Ford's China venture May car sales up 49%

Shanghai, June 4 (Gasgoo.com) Ford Motor's passenger vehicle-making joint venture in China sold 27,839 cars in May, up 48.7% from a year earlier, its Chinese partner said today, Dow Jones reported.

Sales at the joint venture, Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Co., rose 10.6% in the first five months to 110,796 units from 100,183 units of the same period of last year, Chongqing Changan Auto, one of China's largest auto makers, said in a statement.

Overall sales of Changan Auto were 118,591 vehicles in May, up 60.5% from a year earlier. January to May sales rose 29.1% to 534,185 units, the company added.

Yesterday, Changan Auto announced to build a new production facility for small vehicles with an initial investment of 2.5 billion yuan ($366 mln). The facility is expected to have an annual output of 300,000 units when it starts operations in 2012.

Changan Ford Mazda Auto has decided to boost its small vehicle development and market expansion in China's tier-2 and tier-3 cities. The joint venture expects the Chinese auto market to grow 10% for five years.

Ford Motor Co. has given the go-ahead for the plan to build a third assembly plant in China. The new facility is near to Ford's existing assembly plant in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing.