Jiangling Motors auto sales down 36% y/y in Jan

Shanghai, February 6 (Gasgoo.com) Jiangling Motors Corp Ltd, a Chinese venture of Ford Motor, produced 4,313 vehicles in January this year, down 31.26% year on year (y/y) and down 22.22% month on month (m/m), and sold 4,274 vehicles last month, down 36.08% y/y and down 34.47% m/m, National Business Daliy reported today, citing the company's statement.

Currently, Jiangling Motors produces five vehicle models, which include the Ford Transit commercial vehicle, JMC light truck, pickup truck, Baowei SUV, and Yunba minivan. Of these vehicles, the Ford Transit CV and Baowei SUV saw their output exceeding their sales in January.

All the Jiangling-made vehicle models saw considerable fall in output and sales last month, with the Yunba minivan's output and sales dropping most to 8 and 13 units respectively in January from 54 and 43 units in December 2008.

In 2008, Jiangling Motor produced 94,340 vehicles, down from 95,285 a year earlier, and sold 95,171 units, up from 95,059 in 2007. The company sold 38,290 light trucks, 27,472 Ford Transit commercial vehicles, 26,073 pickup trucks, 2,765 SUVs and 571 minivans / microbuses last year.

At the end of 2008, Jiangling Motors won the go-ahead from its board of directors to kick off N800 Project, which is a plant of a new light commercial vehicle. The 725-million-yuan ($106 mln) project is expected to produce 80,000 N800 cars annually starting 2012.