Ford's July China sales fall as auto demand slows

Ford Motor Co.'s China sales fell 6.3 percent in July, making it the first major foreign carmaker to report a decline this year in the world's biggest vehicle market.

Deliveries of Ford-brand vehicles by Changan Ford Sales Co., the Dearborn, Michigan-based company's Chinese sales unit, dropped to 18,255, the company said in a statement today. Sales in July 2009 totaled 19,486, the automaker said on its website last year.

Ford, General Motors Co. and other foreign automakers have been counting on rising Chinese sales to help offset falling demand in Europe and a slowing U.S. recovery. While China's full-year vehicle sales are projected to rise, monthly deliveries may begin declining from year-earlier levels as early as September, according to the Daiwa Institute of Research.

Ford underperformed the market in July as China's total passenger-car sales grew 15.4 percent from a year earlier to 822,300, according to figures released yesterday by the China Automotive Technology & Research Center.

Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., which makes cars with Ford in China, fell as much as 2.3 percent to 10.29 yuan in Shenzhen trading and stood at 10.37 yuan as of 11:29 a.m.