NANJING, Oct 16, 2007 (SinoCast China Transportation Watch via COMTEX) — F | charts | news | PowerRating — Chang’an Ford Mazda Automobile Co., Ltd., Ford Motor Company’s joint venture in China, finished building its Nanjing plant and will bring the new factory into massive production from October 30.
With an investment of USD 510 million, the new plant is located in Nanjing, the capital city of eastern China’s Jiangsu Province, and will have an annual production capacity of 160,000 units during the initial operations.
Ford did not disclose which car models were to be made at the Nanjing plant. However, Mei-Wei Cheng, chairman and CEO of Ford Motor (China) Ltd., said that the new plant would manufacture a Ford-branded small car in April 2008.
Ford’s passenger car production capacity in China, the world’s second-largest auto market, will hit 400,000 units thanks to the establishment of the new plant, said Mei-Wei Cheng. The launch of the Nanjing plant will help the US auto titan meet the growing demands in the Chinese market.
Sales volume of Ford’s affiliated vehicle brands, compassing Ford, Lincoln, Volvo, Jaguar, and Land Rover, jumped 86.6 percent to a new record of 166,722 units last year.
In the first three quarters of this year, retail sales of those cars leaped 30 percent year on year to 149,455 units.
Notably, retail sales of Ford-branded China-made and exported passenger cars and commercial vehicles amounted to 135,073 units during the first nine months, up 27 percent from the same period of the previous year.
In addition, Ford has set up an auto engine research firm in Nanjing. The newborn company, covering an area of 15,000 square meters, has started operations from the beginning of this October.
Chang’an Ford Mazda Automobile is a joint venture among Chang’an Automobile Group, Ford, and Mazda Motor Corp.
The venture was initially launched by Chang’an Automobile Group and Ford in April 2001 and named as Chang’an Ford Automobile Corporation. Later, it was renamed as Chang’an Ford Mazda Automobile in March 2006 due to the participation of Mazda. Currently, Chang’an Automobile, Ford, and Mazda respectively take a 50 percent, 35 percent, and 15 percent stake in the venture.
Starting production from 2003, Chang’an Ford Mazda Automobile has had a vehicle assembly plant in the southwest city Chongqing, the biggest provincial-level city in China.
With an annual production capacity of 250,000 vehicles, the Chongqing plant is mainly engaged in the production and distribution of car models, such as Ford Focus 4D, Ford Focus 5D, Ford Mondeo, Ford S-MAX, Mazda3, and Volvo S40.
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