SHANGHAI/DETROIT: Ford Motor has scrapped a plan to create a unified national sales company for China that stoked mistrust of the automaker at its joint venture partners and contributed to a spectacular collapse in sales in the world's biggest car market.
Many major foreign automakers have 2 or 3 partners in China, involving different marketing and distribution strategies for each partner. Ford is the only one known to have tried combining sales channels for mainstream cars.
Ford has publicly pinned the blame on an ageing model lineup but company officials familiar with the matter said the breakdown in relationships with its joint venture partners and dealers as well as missteps by previous management teams were the bigger factors at play. "This is not a five-year journey," he said, but declined to be more specific when asked how soon Ford's China unit is expected to regain profitability.
For its part, JMC was upset the product was shared with Changan, the officials added, declining to be identified as they were not authorised to speak publicly on the matter.
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