Ford Motor China sold 240,879 vehicles in first nine months.

Shangahai, October 10, 2008.
Ford Motor China today reported sales of 240,879 units through the first nine months of 2008, up from 224,849 during the same period last year.

The number includes passenger car sales of 159,833 units by Ford Motor’s passenger car joint-venture, Changan Ford Mazda Automobile (CFMA), which is up from 150,521 units for the same period last year, and commercial vehicle sales of 75,496 units by Jiangling Motors Corporation, Ford Motor’s commercial vehicle investment in China. Ford Transit sales increased 11 percent over the same period last year, to 21,083 units.

"A number of factors, both internal and external to China, helped contribute to an overall slowdown in the domestic auto market during the third quarter," said Robert Graziano, president and CEO of Ford Motor China. "While our growth continued in China, we also focused efforts on further improving the class-leading quality, safety and value of our products, as well as our dealer and Ford brand experience for our customers."

Ford Motor introduced several new models during the quarter, including the brand new, 5-seat Ford-SMAX, the refreshed Ford Mondeo and the 7-seat Ford S-MAX with improved safety features. Recently, Changan Ford Mazda Automobile introduced the new 2009 Ford Focus. This extremely popular model has racked up sales of more than 300,000 since being introduced in China in 2003.

To further strengthen its dealer network and customer satisfaction programs, Ford expanded to 300 the number of customer support locations nationwide. This is part of ongoing actions to help boost the overall customer experience by continuously improving dealer capabilities and infrastructure.

(source: Ford)