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Ford slides deeper into China rut after worst sales ever


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The U.S. automaker announced on Friday it sold 62,057 vehicles in China in June, taking its sales for the first half of the year to 400,443, down 25 percent compared with the year-ago period. According to consultancy LMC Automotive, it was Ford's biggest first-half percentage decline since starting operations in China in 2001.

 

“We always knew it would be a challenging year for us given our position in the product cycle,” Peter Fleet, head of Ford’s Asia-Pacific operations, which include China, said in a[n] [under]statement.

 

LMC Automotive senior market analyst Alan Kang said one reason Ford is struggling in China is "fiercer competition" in the car market there, where luxury brands are suffering amid the rise of local Chinese brands.

"Weak global brands are squeezed like the meat in a sandwich, so this is why we can see not only Ford," but Hyundai Motor Co, KIA Motors Corp, and Peugeot SA have "all suffered" in the last two years, Kang said.

GM sold 4.04 million vehicles in China last year, up 4.4 percent from a year earlier. Ford, in comparison, sold 1.19 million cars last year, down 6 percent. Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co also outsold Ford last year in China.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/ford-slides-deeper-into-china-rut-after-worst-sales-ever/ar-AAzEVc3?li=BBnbfcN&OCID=HPDHP

Edited by Harley Lover
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Pull out of China, its clearly not working

.

I am not sure that is that answer either.....thats like throwing out the baby with the bathwater....China is the largest automotive market in the world...if you are global in scope, you need to be there....you just need to do it correctly.

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The other issue will be Chinese (and probably every other country) consumers will be shunning US manufacturing in the coming months. GM will also feel this in China as well, it will ripple across the world.

 

It will get very ugly for US production in general, as well as US companies. Canada is also In the process of allowing European/ROW safety/emission standards as well as US which will allow them to import ROW vehicles with no tarriffs. The Canadians I know are not coming to the US and are actively avoiding US products with what is going on.

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Canada is also In the process of allowing European/ROW safety/emission standards as well as US which will allow them to import ROW vehicles with no tarriffs.

 

Mexico already allows both ECE/UN and U.S. DOT/EPA standard cars and trucks. When Canada follows through with the same, the U.S. market will be the only major one left that doesn't allow sales of ECE/UN standard vehicles.

 

Presentation from Navistar and American Automotive Policy Council attached.

Industry presentation - ECE DOT harmonization.pdf

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One of the reasons Chinese manufacturers are doing better is because they are continuously stealing our and other country's intellectual properties. You can't manufacture there unless you allow that crap and eventually foreign manufacturers will be pushed out anyway.

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Technically, it's not stealing if Western manufacturers are forced to partner with local companies

and give them access to IP. The rise in acceptance of domestic Chinese brands has actually been

much slower happening than expected.

 

Ford has simply left itself open for rejection by Chinese buyers, they want new, fresh vehicles,

not the same thing they leased four years ago. The sales reduction now may take Ford years

to recover, even with new product. The one shining light is Lincoln with over 24,000 sales in

the last six months and without a tariff war, they would be looking at 50,000 sales this year...

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The one shining light is Lincoln with over 24,000 sales in

the last six months and without a tariff war, they would be looking at 50,000 sales this year...

Exactly, and thats why Ford will eat the Tarriff on the Lincolns, realistilly they only need to do it for a year when local production will start up and eliminate the need for US exports. The Nautilus wont be an issue as its made in Canada.

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Precisely, Ford's plan is a little more subtle than just building Trucks and Utilities

There's still Mustang, Focus Active and a white space vehicle or two..

Had anyone from Ford defined WTF a white space vehicle is? All I've seen is just conjecture this far from the internets.

 

Mustang is useless for more than two adults (I have one) in anything other than a short trip. I will NOT buy a Chinese made car. Ford has enough quality issues as is. Neither me nor my wife want an SUV.

 

Even though most on here say I am the very small minority, I believe otherwise.

 

The way Ford is moving currently, it may be 2025 before we see what a white space vehicle is. Probably next year we will replace the 2013 Fusion. My wife's mother is failing in health & she has to make a 900 mile round trip every few weeks. I am a truck driver & I'm gone a lot so I always make sure she has a reliable car. I am not going to buy another Fusion since the only way to get the 2.0L is in an overpriced Titanium.

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Precisely, Ford's plan is a little more subtle than just building Trucks and Utilities

There's still Mustang, Focus Active and a white space vehicle or two..

More importantly there are other projects like autonomous vehicles and the platform for managing them in the commercial space.

 

And making almost every vehicle a hybrid or PHEV.

 

Those are things that people forget but those take the same resources and capital as the regular car projects.

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I am not going to buy another Fusion since the only way to get the 2.0L is in an overpriced Titanium.

Well then don’t blame Ford if they stop making them. It’s like the panther mafia whining about Ford not making panthers but never buying a new one.

 

With all the competitors in the midsized market now there simply isn’t much profit in low priced sedans. It’s not that you’re in the minority - midsized sedan sales are still good from a volume standpoint but break even or a tiny profit margin isn’t worth the investment or factory space. If people were still buying Titaniums without having to put $5K on the hood it might be a different story.

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Had anyone from Ford defined WTF a white space vehicle is? All I've seen is just conjecture this far from the internets.

 

Mustang is useless for more than two adults (I have one) in anything other than a short trip. I will NOT buy a Chinese made car. Ford has enough quality issues as is. Neither me nor my wife want an SUV.

 

Even though most on here say I am the very small minority, I believe otherwise.

"we're reinventing the sedan" is Ford's speak of doing a few changes and charging thousands more.

We know that white spaced vehicles are not cars or SUVs so they must be something in between,

the smartest guess is changing Fusion just enough to attract more of the utility crowd without the

car buyers feeling like they've been left behind...

 

Does that kinda make sense?

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