Automotive News - 2008 Guide to China's Auto Market - (Page 10)

10 GLOBAL AUTOMAKERS/JOINT VENTURES Fiat (China) Business Co. Unit 2011, Beijing Silver Tower, No. 2 Dongsanhuan North Road Beijing 100027, P.R. China (86) 10-6410-0666, www.fiatgroup.com Top executive: Franco Amadei, chairman JV: Nanjing Fiat Auto Co. No. 66, Taixi Road, Jiangning High-Tech Park Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province 211100, P.R. China (86) 25-5210-0000, www.fiat.com.cn Top executive: Xu Jiufeng, CEO For Fiat Auto S.p.A., 2007 was a year of relationships. One ended and another blossomed. It was also a year when Fiat’s sales in China continued to fall as the automaker failed to introduce new models. Fiat became a second wife to longtime partner Nanjing Automobile Group Corp. when the Chinese automaker began to manufacture its own car based on the MG Rover sedan in late 2007. In December, Fiat announced that it was ending its Capacity Production Unit sales 2007 100,000 17,164 13,484 2006 100,000 30,974 30,668 relationship with Nanjing Auto. Meanwhile, Fiat’s relationship with Chery Automobile Co. grew closer in 2007. In August Fiat and Chery completed an agreement under which Chery will produce 100,000 engines annually for Fiat to use in China and worldwide. A day later, Fiat said it would form a joint venture with Chery to produce 175,000 cars annually. The first two models slated for production are the Alfa Romeo 159 and Fiat Linea sedans. The joint-venture agreement Models produced: Fiat Palio, Palio Weekend, Siena, Perla had not been completed as of late February. Without a plant in China, Fiat announced in late 2007 that it would begin importing three models in 2008: the Bravo, Punto and Linea. Local production of all three will begin in 2009, Fiat said. This year is crucial for Fiat in China. CEO Sergio Marchionne has said Fiat aims to sell 300,000 cars in China by 2010. To reach that goal, Fiat must start by producing cars in China again. — Alysha Webb Ownership: Fiat Auto S.p.A. Nanjing Automobile Group Corp. 50% 50% Ford Motor China 33F, Shanghai Information Tower, 211 Century Ave. Pudong District, Shanghai 200120, P.R. China (86) 21-2891-6688, www.ford.com.cn Top executive: Robert Graziano, CEO Ford Motor Co. is struggling in North America. But not in China. The automaker’s Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Co. joint venture sold 217,100 cars in China last year, up an eye-popping 67.3 percent from 2006. Ford made a relatively late entry into China in 2003. Its first China-built passenger vehicle, the Fiesta, sold poorly. Ford now is growing nicely. That’s largely because of the Ford Focus, which accounts for 57.6 percent of the joint venture’s sales. A total of 124,991 Focus cars were sold in China in 2007. Ford and its joint venture partners operate three vehicle assembly plants and one engine manufacturing plant in China. Ford operations also include an automotive financing company and a Nanjing-based parts sourcing and r&d center. The Focus hatchback “is more attractive than the traditional three-box sedan for young, single and female buyers in the cities,” says Mei Songlin, China general manager at J.D. Power Asia Pacific Inc. JV: Jiangling Motors Corp. No. 509 Ying Bin Ave. North, Nanchang City Jiangxi Province 330001, P.R. China (86) 791-5266-000, www.jmc.com.cn Top executive: York Chen, president & CEO 2007 2006 FORD FOCUS Another hatchback, the Mazda2, started selling in China in December. The car is made at the Changan Ford Mazda plant in Nanjing. Changan Ford Mazda is a joint venture of Ford Motor Co., Mazda Motor Corp. and Changan Automotive Corp. At the Beijing auto show in April, Ford is expected to display the new Fiesta sedan and hatchback. The hatchback will begin sales in China in the second half of 2008, with sedan sales starting in early 2009. The car will be built at the Nanjing plant. Ford’s strategy calls for introducing cars at a steady rate. It does not want to flood the market with many new cars at once, says Yale Zhang, director of emerging-markets vehicle forecasts at CSM Worldwide. Says Zhang: “I have confidence in Ford’s strategy in China.” Ford’s luxury sales also are growing. Sales of the locally made Volvo S40 jumped 92.3 percent in 2007 to 6,391 units. The car, which starts at $42,485, won 3 percent share of the domestically produced luxury market. Sales of imported Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover cars zoomed up 84 percent to 20,103 units in 2007. Changan Ford Mazda’s assembly plant in Chongqing produces the Ford Focus, Ford Mondeo, Ford S-Max, Volvo S40 and Mazda3, with an annual capacity of 250,000 vehicles. The company’s new plant in Nanjing, which opened in September 2007, boosted capacity to 410,000 vehicles a year. In January, Ford launched a newgeneration Transit van with its commercialvehicle joint venture partner, Jiangling Motors Corp. — Namrita Chow Capacity 100,000 100,000 Production 26,480 22,949 Unit sales 26,585 22,937 Models produced: Ford Transit Ownership: Jiangling Holding Co. Ford Motor Co. Other 41% 30% 29% JV: Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Co. No. 1 Changfu West Road, Yuan Yang Town New Northern Zone, Chongqing 401122, P.R. China (86) 23-6745-8888, www.ford.com.cn Top executive: Shen Yingquan, president & CEO 2007 2006 Ownership: Ford Motor Co. Capacity 410,000 200,000 Production 205,680 137,782 Changan Automotive Co. Unit sales 217,100 129,790 Mazda Motor Co. Models produced: Ford Focus, Mondeo, S-Max; Mazda3; Volvo S40 50% 35% 15% 2008 GUIDE TO CHINA’S AUTO MARKET Automotive News • J.D. Power and Associates • Automotive Resources Asia http://www.fiatgroup.com http://www.fiat.com.cn http://www.fiatgroup.com http://www.ford.com.cn http://www.ford.com.cn http://www.jmc.com.cn http://www.ford.com.cn

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