Ford’s growth causes dropped jaws in China

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When Ford belatedly entered the Chinese market in earnest ten years ago after having wasted its time with commercial vans, people sneered. Recently, the sneers changed into dropped jaws. In a come-from-behind move, Fords now “appears likely to sell more vehicles in China this year than two of its main Japanese rivals – Toyota and Honda,” says Nori Shirouzu of Reuters.

Ford’s growth rate – 50 percent for the first eight months of the year – definitely is awe-inspiring. Its Focus consistently ranks among China’s best-selling cars.

Ford is likely to sell between 900,000 and one million units this year in China, which would put it ahead of Toyota’s planned 900,000 and Honda’s targeted 750,000 units. This is still a long ways away from China’s juggernauts GM and Volkswagen. GM expects to sell more than 3 million vehicles in China this year. The Volkswagen Group could sell about 3.2 million units this year in China, at least according to the projections of LMC Automotive.

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