Ford's departure from Russia has become a booster for Chinese cars to open up the Russian market

Russia's China AutoMotive Network reported on November 15, 2019 that in 2019, Ford Motor has unexpectedly become a booster for the progress of the Chinese automotive industry in Russia. Most of the dealers who left ford cars in the United States turned to become Haval dealers, becoming the growth point of Haval's sales and a booster for expanding the sales network.

In March 2019, Ford Motor Corporation announced the cessation of sales of light vehicles in the Russian Federation and the closure of production platforms. At present the company has only light commercial vehicles in Russia - vans and minibuses. The number of its dealers has shrunk significantly. A total of 48 dealers were closed in the first three quarters, while Uzbek's Ravon Cars also lost 70 dealers.

As the Auto Statistics Network commented, Haval Makes good use of this. China Haval has incorporated Ford's original 20 dealers into its subsidiary. These parts are doing parallel import trade in American brand commercial vehicles, but 8 of them fully serve Haval. These dealers are located in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ivanovo, Yaroslavl, Kursk, Pskov, Nizhny Tagil and Syktyvkar.

Thanks to the expansion of the dealer network, the sales growth is obvious. Haval became the car brand with the largest increase in auto sales in all of Russia. The company's sales volume increased by 289% compared to the same period last year. Predictably, in addition to the growth in the number of dealers, the company has also attracted potential Ford buyers. Ford sales fell 48 percent, while absolute potential buyers exceeded 16,000.

Auto industry experts have commented that "Ford's withdrawal from Russia will affect the marketing plans of those competing automakers who compete with Ford.".

However, the marketing miracle of Chinese cars does happen in reality. According to the information we got, Geely Automobile announced that it offers a discount of 20,000 rubles (about 2,200 yuan) for Ford owners to participate in Geely's trade-in program. Although there is no official announcement on this aspect, we believe that its marketing effectiveness will be more obvious if it is officially announced.

And, as of now, ford's three production platforms left in Russia have not been sold. The production fiesta and ecosport platforms are located in Cherne-sur-Kama, the Yebraga production site and the Vishevorozysk automobile plant in Leningrad Oblast. GacChina was initially interested, but then its general manager announced that the company was not ready for such a major investment in Russia.

This does not mean that Chinese companies will abandon These production platforms of Ford Motor in Russia, in other words, Ford Motor's resources in Russia are still prepared for Chinese auto companies and facilitate the development of the Russian auto market for Chinese auto companies.