Ford Motor Co. (F) posted stronger-than-expected sales in China as U.S. manufacturers continue to gain ground in the world's fastest-growing market for clean energy cars.
Ford's China sales grew 15% last month from the same period in 2016, the company said Thursday, topping 100,000 cars for the first time ever and capping second quarter growth of around 7%. So far this year, Ford has sold 540,000 cars in China, more than half of which were shifted under Changan Ford Automobile, which includes the Escort, Focus, Edge and Mondeo brands. Ford's local partner, Jiangling Motor Corporation, has sold 140,000 cars so far this year, the company said.
The figures follow a solid June report from rival General Motors (GM) , which said sales rebounded by 4.3% to just of 285,000 units, trimming the year-to-date decline to around 2.5% and 1.8 million vehicles.
Tax cuts and sales incentives lifted China's overall 2016 car sales past 24.3 million, according to official government figures, well ahead of the record 17.55 million units sold in the United States. China is also the fastest-growing market for clean-energy cars, which saw a 53% increase in sales last year to just over 500,000 units.
Ford has said it plans to unveil its first hybrid vehicle next year and forecasts that nearly three quarters of its cars will have electric options by 2025 while GM will market 10 clean energy cars in China over the next few years, with a sales target of 150,000 a year by 2020.
Volvo said Wednesday that all of its cars will carry an electric engine from 2019 as it embraces of the new technology in the face of industry-wide adoption.
Volvo is planning to launch five fully electric cars between the years 2019 and 2021, complimented by a broader range of hybrids, giving the Chinese-owned car maker one of the broadest ranges of electric vehicles on the market.
Ford shares closed at $11.30 each in New York Wednesday after falling 2.25% on the session, extending their year-to-date decline to 6.8%. GM shares fell 1.57% to close at $35.01 each and have slipped 0.48% since the start of the year.
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