A century-old car brand has fought back in the midst of great changes
Author | Shen Tianxiang
Edit | Jane
Produced by | Bangning Studio (gbngzs)
Ford China Design Center, located in Shanghai's Inner Ring Venture Park, has become a new landmark.
In the center of the magic city, creating a full-process design center covering the entire design chain is enough to see Ford's determination and confidence in the Chinese market.
On January 17, 2022, with the unveiling of the new generation of Ford Mondeo, ford's world's most advanced design center was unveiled.
Here, design equipment made of high-end equipment is gathered, so that art design and Tide Electric Wisdom Wave collide freely, and here, there are young creative design teams with local knowledge and global vision to inject Chinese soul into global design.
This is a new look for Ford China, and it is also a new atmosphere for the whole Ofd. The century-old car brand is constantly catching up with the great changes of the times and listing China as the forefront of its change.
Since the beginning of 2019, Ford China, which has experienced the pain of market downturn, has regained the courage and confidence to return to the main track. At that time, Chen Anning, vice president of Ford Motor Company and president and CEO of Ford China, who had just taken office, announced The Ford China 2.0 plan.
In the past three years, through the implementation of this plan, Ford China's performance has not only stopped falling and rebounded, but also continued to grow. In 2021, Ford China sold a total of 624,800 new vehicles in the whole year, an increase of 3.7% over 2020.
Among them, the localization of Lincoln grew rapidly, setting a record for the best in 2021, with annual sales of nearly 92,000 vehicles, an increase of 48.3% year-on-year. A total of about 240,000 new vehicles were delivered for the Ford brand, essentially the same as in the same period in 2020. Ford brand and Jiangling brand commercial vehicles sold 264,000 units in the whole year.
Across the ocean, headquarters in Dearborn Ford, Michigan, USA. Jim Farley, who served as Ford's chief executive for 15 months, also reversed the long-term decline in Ford's stock price through Ford's global strategy Ford+ plan.
On January 13, 2022, Ford Motor's stock price rose 2.2 percent to $25.02 in the New York market, and its latest market capitalization surpassed rival General Motors and electric vehicle startup Rivian.
When Farley first took office in October 2020, Ford's stock price was only $8, and now the company's market value has exceeded $100 billion for the first time, and the stock price has reached a 20-year high. Farley not only fulfilled the long-cherished wish of the previous two Ford CEOs for 6 years, but also changed the trajectory of the century-old automaker.
Who says elephants can't dance? Ford's business and share price have been significantly improved. Demand for blockbuster models, including pure electric vehicles, is strong, and the profitability of the north American business continues to rise, and the profitability of the business in other regions continues to improve.
When businesses or individuals reach a certain tipping point, they need to refresh themselves. To meet the challenges of the era of smart electric, Ford is further increasing its investment in the smart networking and electrification business. In the torrent of rolling history, the centennial Ford set off again.
In this deep change, Ford China has become an increasingly important player.
01.
Three years, what an answer sheet
"It's easy to make a plan, but it takes 3 years of hard work to execute it well." Louis Gerstner, former president of IBM (International Business Machines Corporation), wrote in his biography.
If you comb through or examine the changes in Ford China in the past 3 years, what will you find?
In October 2018, Ford repositioned its global business, with the Chinese market side by side with the North American market as its two core markets, and Ford China upgraded to an independently operated business unit. It was also at that time that Chen Anning returned to Ford China.
Five months later, on the eve of the Shanghai Auto Show in April 2019, Chen Anning released a medium- and long-term plan to lead Ford China's development, the Ford China 2.0 Plan, which opened the most profound change after Ford entered the Chinese market.
The core of the plan is "More Ford, More China", focusing on 4 centers - China Innovation Center, China Design Center, China Product Center and China New Energy Vehicle Center, and 5 major programs - Products, Intelligent Technology, Strategic Partners, Innovation and Local Talents.
After nearly three years of hard work, Ford China has delivered a remarkable answer sheet. This answer sheet can be measured in many ways, and it is most intuitive in terms of performance.
The first is the Lincoln brand, which will see sales up 48% year-on-year in 2021, making it one of the fastest growing traditional luxury brands. Of its nearly 92,000 total sales, 90% are domestic models. In addition, for the first time, the Sales volume of the Lincoln brand in the Chinese market surpassed that of the Us market, which is a milestone for a latecomer in the Chinese market.
The new Lincoln Z, the "smart new generation of cars" created by the Lincoln brand, made its world debut and opened pre-sales at the 2021 Guangzhou Auto Show. With a very creative new design and intelligent technology that breaks through imagination, this car redefines the future experience scenario of "smart" travel, and so far the order has exceeded 3,000 units.
The second is the Ford brand passenger car , SUV and high-end sedan market performance is stable, becoming the main sales force. Among them, the Ford SUV camp represented by Changan Ford Explorer, Ruijie and Ruiji performed well, and the annual sales of Explorers increased by 43.4% year-on-year. After the listing of Jiangling Ford's Lingyu, sales have continued to grow.
Next, new Models such as the new Ford EVOS and Mustang Mach-E will be launched one after another, which will not only accelerate the transformation of brand intelligence and electrification, enrich Changan Ford's product front, but also drive the continuous growth of its high-end model sales.
With Ford China 2.0's strong product portfolio and electrification at its core, Ford Will see a strong 2022 as it unfolds. The steady launch of new models – including the locally produced Ford Mustang Mach-E, Ford Evos and Lincoln Zephyr, plus the direct-to-customer EV city showroom network, the Ford Select premium smart EV exclusive brand launched in the Chinese market – all lay a good foundation for Ford's growth with a fully upgraded user experience.
There are also commercial vehicles – which remain stable despite the overall downward trend of the market. Among them, the light bus models represented by Ford Transit and Jiangling Teshun, as well as Jiangling brand pickup truck models, are still growing against the trend under the downward pressure of the market, and both increased by 4.9% year-on-year. The light bus model also set a record sales record in China with 94,000 units.
Judging from these public achievements, the smooth transformation and phased results of Ford's China 2.0 plan have enabled Ford to gain market recognition in SUVs, smart technologies and Lincoln domestic models.
Jim Farley has said he hopes that the Ford China team led by Chen Anning will revitalize Ford's business, restore Ford China to a profitable, healthy and sustainable growth enterprise, and build a DNA with Chinese dna for Ford. At present, this wish is landing.
02.
Landing on the ground and constantly accelerating
Behind the handover of the 2021 bright answer sheet is actually Ford China's practice of the concept of "more Ford, more China".
Around this core, Ford China continues to accelerate the localization of the landing.
The layout of the four centers has shown results - the 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 research and development capabilities in electrification, product and intelligent technology, as well as the optimization and upgrading of product launch speed and product structure.
The Ford China Design Center, which was unveiled a few days ago, was upgraded from the ford China Forward-looking design studio in the past to add a full-size sludge model workshop and judging hall with industry-leading facilities. "This is Ford's newest and most advanced design center in the world and the latest driving force for Ford China's continued brand transformation." Chen Anning said.
As early as 10 years ago, Ford China established the China Forward-looking Design Office here. However, in the past, the studio's work was relatively single, and most of them tended to study design trends, such as collecting chinese consumers' aesthetic design trends. Now, this trend has changed radically.
In Shanghai, the emerging world art and fashion center, Ford China hopes to attract more local design elites. In the past two years, the number of employees at Ford's China Design Center has increased 10-fold. More than three-quarters of creative design team members are now young local designers under the age of 35.
Ford China will also integrate and upgrade its original product engineering center and vehicle testing center in Nanjing into Ford China Product Development Center. The center has transformed from only doing localization development of global products in the past to truly leading the design and development of new products for the Chinese market in the future, and even leading global product development.
Leveraging Ford China's team and resource strengths in Shanghai and Nanjing, as well as close cooperation with partners, the Ford China Innovation Center will innovate in products, technologies, customer experience and business models based on market and technology trends, focusing on consumer needs.
Taking advantage of the resources and advantages of the product development center, the Ford China New Energy Center was also established in Nanjing. In view of the demand for new energy models from Chinese consumers, it plans and develops new energy products and technologies that are more suitable for the Chinese market, and accelerates the implementation of Ford's electrification strategy in China.
With the completion of the last piece of the puzzle, all 4 centers are completed. Since then, Ford China has had closed-loop operation capabilities from project development, manufacturing to upgrading user experience.
At present, the global automotive industry is undergoing profound changes around electrification and intelligence, and Ford China's products are constantly innovating around the needs of Chinese consumers and the development trend of technology.
Based on the landing of 4 major centers and 5 major plans, Ford's deep localization in China can not only make more in-depth innovation around the Chinese market, but also make the Chinese market the forefront of Ford's automobile transformation, and respond more flexibly to changes in the market and industry from the page.
03.
Transformation, breeding new hope
According to Ford' Ford+ plan, electrification transitions are a top priority.
Last May, Ford said it would invest more than $30 billion in electric vehicle research and development (including battery research and development) by 2025, significantly higher than the previous $22 billion plan; by 2030, the proportion of electric vehicle sales will reach 40% to 50%.
"This is Ford's biggest market growth and brand value creation opportunity since Henry Ford promoted the Model T, and our goal is to lead the electric revolution." Jim Farley said.
In January, Ford's market capitalization on Wall Street topped $100 billion for the first time, and investors were betting on the 118-year-old automaker's electrification prospects.
At this time, Ford is doubling its production plans for the electric F-150 Lightning pickup, which will be available this spring. A plant in Its Mexico also boosted production at the Mustang Mach-E.
"I am pleased that Ford's commitment to electrification has been recognized. The market's reaction proves that they like Ford's entry into electrification. We're starting to scale up now, and it's going to be a few years away from other companies. Jim Farley said in an interview.
In China, the world's largest electric vehicle market, Ford China, as a pioneer in Ford's global electrification, is constantly innovating.
Over the past year, Ford Motor has fully accelerated the development of its electric vehicle business in China. Among them, the domestic Mustang Mach-E began to be delivered to retail users in December last year. The all-new Ford F-150 Raptor is set to land in China in 2022, with scheduling open in the first quarter.
In October 2021, at the "Electric Horse Departure" brand night, Ford China announced the launch of the Ford Select high-end intelligent electric vehicle exclusive brand in the Chinese market. By the end of 2021, Ford China has opened 25 electric vehicle city showrooms in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu and other places, and will exceed 100 in the next five years.
In terms of charging and replacing, users can directly reach mainstream charging operators such as the State Grid, Special Call, Star Charging, and China Southern Power Grid with one click, as well as 400,000 high-quality public charging piles provided by 25 charging operators such as Weilai Supercharging Station, to achieve a "3 km" energy replenishment circle in key cities, including 270,000 DC fast charging piles, covering more than 80% of public charging resources in 349 cities across the country.
"All IN is Ford's electrification strategy and attitude." Chen Anning once said in an interview that as one of ford's most important markets, Ford China's electrification is an important part of Ford's global electrification.
The direction of transformation is also intelligent. Jim Farley said in the interview that Ford is challenging not only in terms of product electrification, but also in terms of digitalization, intelligence and customer experience.
Ford EVOS, the first strategic model of Ford China's 2.0 plan, is a model that has a deep understanding of the needs of Chinese consumers and promotes intelligent innovation. Sync+2.0 Intelligent Mobility Interconnection System, the new BlueCruise L2+ level of active driving assistance, intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving based on the intelligent interconnection network architecture (FNV), etc., have laid a solid foundation for Ford's intelligent development.
In addition, in the field of customer experience, the Ford brand aims at the trend characteristics of Chinese consumers' familyization and diversification, and further improves the full-time and all-round new customer relationship by upgrading dealer showrooms and services, integrating digital channels and experiences, and using technological innovation and family-filled customer experience.
Lincoln brand dealers believe that before focusing on sales, we must pay more attention to customers and pay attention to their sense of experience. Lincoln has become an excellent example of exporting China's experience to Ford globally, including the innovative marketing model " Lincoln Way 2.0 " .
The "Lincoln Way 2.0" created by the Lincoln brand builds a new ecosystem of customer experience with digital empowerment and experience co-creation, and gradually establishes a full-time and all-round new customer relationship. By the end of 2021, five new Lincoln Way Experience Centers have been completed.
Under the guidance of Ford's global strategy Ford+ plan and Ford China 2.0 plan, Ford China has returned to the growth track.
Super strategy execution, not only to do the right thing, but also to be faster, more frequent, more effective than the competition.
This is the "way" of Ford China's growth under the wave of intelligence and electrification.