Ford China January sales rise 20%

Ford’s two joint ventures in China sold 53,300 vehicles in January, up 20 percent from the same period last year.Much of Ford’s sales growth was generated by the Ford Focus compact car — which is built by Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Co. and the Ford Transit commercial van, made by the joint venture Jiangling Motors Corp.
Sales of the Focus rose 15 percent year-on-year to 38,400 units in January, while Transit sales surged 51 percent to 6,100 units, according to Ford China. Aside from the Focus, Changan Ford Mazda also assembles the Ford Mondeo and Fiesta, plus the Mazda2 and Mazda3 models. Ford also imports the Ford Edge SUV into China. After a slow start, Ford is expanding its operations in China. Jiangling Motors is building a new $300 million (2 billion yuan) assembly plant in Nanchang, while Changan Ford is constructing an engine plant and a second assembly plant in Chongqing.