Jiangling Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co.’s truck partnership, is experiencing a spike in orders for ambulances based on the Ford Transit van as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
The joint venture obtained orders for more than 1,900 ambulances adapted from the van through Saturday, up from some 1,300 orders as of Monday last week, according to Ford Motor Co. and Jiangling Motors.
To help the central China city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, Jiangling Motors on Saturday shipped two of 10 Transit vans it will donate to hospitals in Wuhan.
Ford builds the Transit, as well as the Everest SUV, the Tourneo multipurpose vehicle and the Territory crossover, at Jiangling Motors. The U.S. company also assembles sedans and crossovers at its car joint venture with Changan Automobile Co.
Two state-owned Chinese automakers, Shanghai-headquartered SAIC Motor Corp. and Beijing-based Beiqi Foton Motor Co., said last week that they have received orders for van-based ambulances from local governments.