Changan Ford Mazda wants to reach 5% market share

Ford Motor Company's joint venture in China, Changan Ford Mazda Automobile, hopes its market share can reach 5 percent in China by 2014, according to the National Business Daily.

Last Friday, Ford CEO and president Alan Mulally laid the cornerstone of the company's third auto plant in Chongqing, southwest China, with an investment of 3.34 billion yuan. The plant's annual capacity will be at least 150,000 vehicles, and this will bring Changan Ford Mazda’s joint venture total capacity to 600,000 units. The third plant will first produce the Ford Focus and the new model will be launched by 2012.

The joint venture currently has two plants, one in Chongqing and Nanjing, capital of eastern China's Jiangsu Province, having a total of four production lines. The first plant in Chongqing is running at overcapacity due to strong demand, said Zou Wenchao, vice executive chairman of Changan Ford Mazda. Considering the natural gas and labor force advantages that Chongqing owns, the company decided to open a second plant in Chongqing.

Yin Jiaxu, chairman of China Changan Automobile Group, said that Changan sales from January to August increased 45.5 percent from a year earlier, and Changan Ford Mazda contributed with more than 50 percent profit. Changan expects the joint venture can have a 5 percent market share by 2014.

Mulally said small cars would make up 60 percent of future production lines, and 25 percent for medium-sized vehicles and 15 percent for luxury sedans.

Joint venture partners Chongqing Changan Automobile Group, Ford Motor and Mazda Motor Co. will hold 50, 35 and 15 percent stakes respectively in the new plant.

Agencies and Shi Jierui contributed to this story