Ford sold nearly 625,000 units in China in 2021, up 3.7% year-on-year

Ford Motor (China) Co., Ltd. announced its 2021 sales figures on January 14, and sold a total of 624,802 vehicles in 2021, an increase of 3.7% over the previous year. Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global chip shortage, the smooth transformation and phased results of the "Ford China 2.0" program have enabled Ford to gain wide recognition in the market in SUVs, smart technologies and Lincoln domestic models. Among them, the Lincoln brand market performance is eye-catching, with annual sales of 91,621 vehicles, an increase of 48.3% year-on-year, setting a record for the best annual sales since the brand entered China. A total of 237,646 Ford brand passenger cars were delivered throughout the year, essentially the same as the same period last year, and the annual sales of Ford brand and Jiangling brand commercial vehicles were 264,237 units due to the sluggish market performance of commercial vehicles.

"The top priority of Ford's global ford+ program is to treat customers as family, create differentiated products and experiences, build always-on customer relationships, and continuously improve the user experience. The changes led by the program in China are fundamentally changing our work culture, and I am very happy to see the 'Ford China 2.0' program landed and began to work." Chen Anning, president and CEO of Ford China, said, "The innovation and accumulation of our China team in electrification, artificial intelligence technology, digital technology, product and service experience, etc., have brought consumers younger and intelligent high-end models in 2021." Through the innovation of electrification and sales models, and further increase investment in the field of intelligence, we will bring more products and technologies loved by consumers. ”

Electrification enters a new phase and Mustang Mach-E begins delivery

In 2021, Ford Motor will fully accelerate the development of its electric vehicle business in China. The domestic Ford Mustang Mach-E has been officially delivered in December last year, opening the Ford Mustang Mach-E journey of Chinese car owners, bringing the driving passion and fun of smart pure electric SUV to domestic electric vehicle users for the first time.

In addition, Ford has also taken the lead in launching a series of disruptive business models, including opening 25 Ford Select exclusive brand city stores for high-end smart electric vehicles and putting them into operation, taking the lead in adopting a direct sales model, and further deepening Ford's investment in the Chinese electric vehicle market and accelerating the electrification transformation of the Ford brand by focusing on the digital experience of full-time user relations, as well as a more convenient charging network and charging experience.

Lincoln set a record for the best sales since the brand entered China

In 2021, Lincoln sold 91,621 vehicles for the year, up 48% year-on-year, making it one of the fastest growing traditional luxury brands. Among them, the domestic SUV "Three Musketeers" was heavily assembled, and a total of 82,835 vehicles were sold throughout the year, accounting for 90% of the total sales. Lincoln adventurer Corsair's annual sales increased by 57% year-on-year, becoming a popular hit in the market segment; the lincoln brand's "smart new generation of cars" The new Lincoln Z made its global debut at the Guangzhou Auto Show and opened pre-sales, redefining the future experience scenario of "smart" travel with a creative new design and intelligent technology that breaks through imagination, and orders have exceeded 2,300 so far.

The Ford SUV and high-end sedan markets performed steadily and continued to be the main force of sales

Even under the dual impact of the epidemic and chip shortages, the cumulative sales of Ford-branded passenger cars for the whole year still reached 237,646 units; sales in the fourth quarter reached 72,743 units, an increase of 18.1% sequentially. The stable performance of Ford brand SUVs and high-end cars has become the highlight of Ford brand passenger cars in 2021. Among them, the Ford Explorer, Ford Ruijie and Ford Ruiji represented by the Ford SUV model camp performed well throughout the year, the Ford Explorer annual sales increased by 43.4% year-on-year, and the new Ford Lingyu sales climbed steadily since the listing, achieving continuous month-on-month growth; the first strategic model Ford EVOS Light Chaser began to be delivered at the end of November last year, and its intelligent technology-supported fashion trend and extraordinary driving pleasure are winning the love of more and more young consumers, and sales continue to rise With the release of Ford Lingrui at the Guangzhou Auto Show, the Ford brand provides Chinese SUV consumers with an extremely rich and diverse choice.

Light passengers and pickup trucks continue to be stable growth points for commercial vehicles

In 2021, due to the overall economy affected by multiple factors at home and abroad, the overall commercial vehicle market declined. Ford brand and Jiangling brand commercial vehicles sold a total of 264,237 vehicles in China throughout the year (excluding 14,294 Jiangling brand commercial vehicle export sales), slightly lower than the same period last year; among them, the light bus model represented by Ford Transit and Jiangling Teshun, as well as the Jiangling brand pickup truck models, still showed contrarian growth under the downward pressure of the market, both of which increased by 4.9% year-on-year. Among them, the light bus model set a record high in Sales in China with 94,105 units.

"Ford China 2.0" accelerated the full landing

The five major plans of "Ford China 2.0" focusing on products, technology, innovation, partners and talents have been fully implemented and continuously improved and improved, and the layout of the four centers has also shown results - product development center, new energy center, design center and innovation center have been completed and put into use, which has significantly improved Ford China's R&D capabilities in electrification, product and intelligent technology, product launch speed and product structure optimization and upgrading. Further focusing on consumer demand, Ford motor vehicles is deeply focused on the rapid development and upgrading of electrification, intelligence and customer experience, and is committed to launching more products and technologies that meet the needs of the Chinese market, creating a full-time and all-round customer relationship and brand experience, subverting itself with a firmer determination, establishing new competitive advantages, and providing more impetus for the future development of business in China.

As the first strategic models of the "Ford China 2.0", the Ford EVOS and the new Lincoln Z are designed and developed by the Chinese team, focusing on the needs of Chinese consumers and making full use of global resources. While inheriting the brand design style, the two models also embody product design that meets the preferences of Chinese consumers, leading intelligent technology and driving experience, which has won high praise from the market.

In areas such as artificial intelligence technology, digital technology, product and service experience, Ford China's product team continues to innovate around Chinese consumer needs and technology trends. Among them, in the new model series, sync+2.0 Zhixing interconnection system, the new BlueCruise L2+ level of active driving assistance have been fully launched, and based on the intelligent interconnection network architecture (FNV), we have created an industry-leading intelligent technology such as "understanding you better" intelligent cockpit and "more road-aware" intelligent driving, as well as vehicle OTA that continuously optimizes the iterative product experience.

In the field of continuously upgrading customer experience, the Ford brand integrates the brand spirit of "pioneering innovation" and the service concept of "hospitality as a friend" in view of the trend characteristics of Chinese consumers' familyization and diversification, and integrates digital channels and experiences by upgrading dealer showrooms and services, and further improves the full-time and all-round new customer relationship with scientific and technological innovation and family customer experience. In the future, the products, services and online and offline customer touchpoints of the entire Ford brand will give full play to their respective advantages to create a better experience and more added value for Chinese consumers.

Originating from China, the "Lincoln Way" has entered the 2.0 era in an all-round way, building a new ecosystem of customer experience with "digital empowerment and experience co-creation", and gradually establishing a new type of customer relationship that is "always online". At the same time, with the design concept of "American Luxury Club", we will innovate and create a new Lincoln Way Experience Center, creating the era of Lincoln New Retail 2.0. The new Lincoln Way Experience Center will be the purest American luxury experience, vivid and rich integration of digital interconnection, diversified ecological customer co-creation experience space perfect integration, making it a "trend vane" of architecture, experience and social networking, by the end of 2021, five new Lincoln Way experience centers have been officially completed.

Looking forward to 2022, changes in the external environment, the continued epidemic and chip shortage will still have a certain impact on the development of the business, but Ford motor will still spare no effort to firmly promote the landing of the Ford+ plan in China, accelerate the transformation of the "Ford China 2.0" business, and further promote the full implementation of the electrification strategy. Ford China will continue to focus on consumer demand, create more products favored by consumers, and give a full-time, all-round user experience with brand characteristics, and better fulfill the promise of "more Ford, more China".

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