Ford’s domestic pickup trucks will be available for the Chinese market.
Editor’s note: This article is from “Future Car Daily” (WeChat public ID: auto-time), author: NIU Xiao Tong.
Author | Niu Xiaotong
Editor | Li Huanhuan
Ford Motors will overweight the Chinese pickup market.
According to Reuters, Ford recently said that it will consider producing Ford brand pickups in China in the future, and it is possible to launch customized models for the Chinese market.
Liu Haohai, vice president of product innovation at Ford China, said that if more Chinese cities relax restrictions on pickup trucks, “we plan to produce Ford-brand pickups locally in China to meet the needs of Chinese consumers.”
Recently, at the Shanghai Expo, Ford exhibited two of its main pickup trucks, the Ford F-150 LTD and the Ford F-150 Raptor. The F-series pickup truck is Ford’s main pickup truck type. It has been ranked as the best-selling pickup truck series in the United States for 42 consecutive years, with cumulative sales exceeding 27 million units.
In the US market, pickup trucks have been selling well for a long time. According to the auto news network, the sales of pickup trucks in the United States in 2018 was about 2.9 million, accounting for 17% of the total auto market. However, in the Chinese market, because it is classified as a truck model and is subject to environmental protection policies, the pickup truck type needs to comply with the strict restriction policy.
In 2016, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments issued documents to try to relax the restrictions on pickup trucks entering the city, and the restrictions on pickups began to change. In January of this year, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments jointly issued a plan that mentioned “stable promotion of the scope of restrictions on pickup trucks entering the city”.
Although pickup is still a minority in the Chinese auto market, it has shown growth in recent years. According to data from industry consulting firm LMC Automotive, in the context of the overall downturn of China’s auto market in 2018, pickup sales increased by 10% against the trend, reaching 452,000 units, and sales for the fourth consecutive year increased year-on-year. According to the statistics of the Association, the Chinese pickup market has maintained a continuous growth trend since 2017. From January to September 2019, the cumulative sales of pickup trucks was 310,000.
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I am Niu Xiaotong, the author of the Future Auto Daily, focusing on the dynamics of the car and travel, and welcome the news and exchanges. My WeChat is NEXT0117, please add a note name, position, company.
