Ford Motor Co. and longtime Chinese partner Jiangling Motors Corp. formed a joint venture aimed at strengthening Ford’s sales efforts and reach in China, the companies said Wednesday.
Jiangling Ford Automobile Technology (Shanghai) Co. aims to sell Ford passenger vehicles — mainly SUVs and vans — built by JMC through a network of 181 showrooms in major Chinese cities.
The portfolio includes the recently launched Ford Equator Sport, a five-passenger midsize crossover with such features as advanced driver assist, a Tencent infotainment system and mobile device interface and wireless over-the-air software updates.
Other Ford models to be sold through the new JV are the Territory, Everest, Equator and Tourneo.
Ford and its two joint ventures – one with Changan Automobile Co. and the other with Jiangling Motors Group – delivered 624,802 vehicles last year in China, an increase of 3.7 percent from 2020.
The tally includes 91,621 Lincoln vehicles, a jump of 48 percent from 2020.