Ford Motor Co said on Friday its January vehicle sales in China dropped by a sharp 18 percent versus a year ago, marking a difficult start to 2018 for the US carmaker that is struggling to revive its business in the world's biggest auto market.
The bleak number underscores Ford's China woes as it grapples not only with falling sales at a time when rivals are picking up steam, but also with the abrupt departure of its China chief last month who was expected to help drive growth.
Ford sold 75,990 vehicles in the market in January, the firm said in a statement, far slower growth than the wider China auto market which was up 11.6 percent for the month, an industry association said on Friday. Over the same period, General Motors Co bagged a sales gain of 14.5 percent, while Toyota Motor Corp took home a 24.5 percent rise. Last year, Ford's China sales slid 6 percent, compared with a 3 percent rise for the industry overall.
Peter Fleet, Ford's Asia-Pacific and China chief, blamed the company's weak sales partially on the relative lack of new and redesigned products in its China market product lineup. "Ahead of its new model launches later in 2018, Changan Ford has rebalanced its compact sedan production and retail volumes to ensure an orderly transition to the new models," he said. Changan Ford is the US automaker's joint venture with China's Chongqing Changan Automobile Co.