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The company's sales volumes in the world's biggest auto market
fell in May to 61,744 vehicles from a year earlier, Ford said on
Friday.
That took sales volumes for the first five months of the year to
338,386 vehicles, down 22 percent from the corresponding period
a year ago.
Ford has been dealing with the sales slump since last year,
caused in part by a dearth of competitive fresh products.
The company has since announced plans for several new products
including the redesigned Focus and Escort cars, as well as the
Nautilus, a new premium Lincoln model Ford is gearing to sell
soon.
The problem is those new models won't start arriving in dealer
showrooms until later this year.
“We are progressing our China 2025 strategy by introducing a
series of new products..., sharpening our operational execution,
and improving our business fitness as we prepare for a new
chapter of growth," Peter Fleet, head of Ford's Asia Pacific
operations, said in a statement.
Ford earlier this month announced a new sales leader for its
premium Lincoln brand, appointing Mao Jingbo, a former
Mercedes-Benz China senior executive, to replace the current
leader Amy Marentic, who is returning to the United States to
assume a new position at Ford's headquarters in Dearborn,
Michigan.
Its sales fell 6 percent last year even as overall vehicle sales
in China rose 3 percent.
Fleet has said Ford sales probably won't likely regain momentum
in China until next year when the first of the wave of new
vehicle models arrive in showrooms in large enough numbers.
(Reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu; Editing by Muralikumar
Anantharaman)
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