Ford Posted 44% Growth in China in 2009

Ford is looking for a stronger performance in China in 2010 after it experienced 44 percent growth in its China sales in 2009. The car maker sold 440,619 units in 2009, compared to 306,306 vehicles in the previous year. Ford now looks for more ground in the China market which is one of the biggest car markets in the world. In fact, the car maker built a new plant in China last year.

Chinese government is helping the auto industry of the country so that it can regain some of its strength lost through economic recession. Government has cut on sales tax for small cars and provides subsidy to the buyers. Overall, a number of auto makers have targeted China market very seriously and want to increase their share in China. In fact, there is forecast that Chinese auto market could see an 8% growth in 2010.

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reuters

Ford to Step into Indian Market with Figo Small Hatchback Car

American car maker Ford is planning to join some other major players to make its mark in Indian car market with a small car named Figo. In Italian, Figo means ‘cool’. Well, there is no doubt, Indian car market is pretty much lucrative for the car makers as it has seen excellent growth over the last few years. Small car segment of Indian market is more lucrative because of India’s price sensitive customers. It is true that the growth has been lowered over the last couple of years because of economic recession, but still it has huge potential for the car makers. Indian car maker Tata introduced its much-hyped Nano small car which costs around 1 lakh ruppe. The car has received huge response too.

Ford has not revealed detailed specifications of Figo yet, but it is expected that the features of the hatchback car will be out in the media when Ford will commercially introduce the car next year.

There is no doubt, India has a very potential car market because of it large middle class family. So, it is quite natural that companies like Ford seek to gain a considerable amount of market share.

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Wall Street Journal

Honda is scoring big times in the USA auto market

With the high fuel price, America has become an open field for small fuel efficient cars and Honda has become the big player in this field. The small cars of Honda are now selling very quickly all over the USA. Instead of going for big cars and better performing engines Honda Motor Company Limited (TYO: 7267) focused on its small subcompact cars. Now Honda has got the best performance in the USA auto market. It sales grew up 4.8%. In May, Honda Civic became the top selling vehicle in the USA displacing Ford’s F-Series trucks. According to Jim Hossack, consultant, Auto Pacific Inc. Honda’s products are well tuned with the condition of the current market. They are not offering Super Duty or Suburban but small fuel-efficient vehicles. Det News.com reports:

Honda could sell even more vehicles in the United States if the Japanese automaker shipped more small cars to its American Honda Motor subsidiary. Fit subcompacts are sold within five days of reaching showrooms, said John Mendel, executive vice president at American Honda. But Honda is also scrambling to meet demand in Japan, where the Fit is the best-selling vehicle. "Sixty percent of the world market is small cars. We compete with the rest of the world for the Fit," Mendel said. It gets 27-28 miles per gallon in the city and 33-34 mpg on the highway.

Sales of Honda’s Fit subcompact has increased 64%, Civic 20.5% and Civic hybrid 17.5%. Honda may be doing well in its small vehicles section but its bigger vehicles are not performing well. Though cross over CR-V are quite popular but still, Honda is having a tough time selling its big vehicles. Honda’s midsize Ridgeline pickup, premium Acura are slow sellers but overall Honda cars do not spend much time in dealers lots in the USA now days.

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Det News.com

Honda and Toyota beats Ford in the May USA car sales

After General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM), it’s Ford’s term. The second largest car maker in the USA took a big blow in May car sales from Japanese auto-giants: Honda and Toyota. As the USA consumers are switching toward fuel efficient Japanese cars, Honda Motor Company’s (TYO: 7267) Civic Accord and Toyota Motor Corporation’s (TYO: 7203) Corolla and Camry enjoyed higher sales to Ford Motor Company’s (NYSE:F) F-Series pickups. According to Honda spokesperson Chris Martin, in May, Honda sold 53,229 Civics and 43,778 Accords. Toyota on the other hand sold 52,826 Corollas and 51,291 Camrys. Bloomberg reports:

The second-largest U.S.-based automaker sold more Focus small cars than F-Series pickups to individual consumers, Farley also said. Those so-called retail sales usually are more profitable than those to business and government fleets that get discounts for buying in bulk.

The F-Series still beat the Focus in total sales because of fleet purchases. Ford sold 32,579 Focus cars last month, an increase of 53 percent from a year earlier, while the F-Series total was a 31 percent drop. Ford's total sales fell 16 percent last month, its sixth straight monthly decline.

Declining pickup sales contributed to Ford's announcement last month that it would abandon a target of returning to profit by next year. The company had combined losses of $15.3 billion in 2006 and 2007, mostly because of its North American unit.

For the first time in last fifteen years, any foreign auto maker topped Ford in car sales. For the first time also, Honda’s Civic has become the best-selling car in the USA. According to Ford’s marketing chief, Jim Farley, it was a watershed month. The people of USA are paying $4.20 gas for the first time.

The main problem is USA car makers are good at making heavy vehicles that take lots of fuel. Success of Japanese car makers is a big sign of change for the USA car industry. From now on, they should go for producing small fuel efficient cars to survive in the extremely competitive auto market.

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