Ford Motors

Ford, which produces cars jointly with Chongqing Changan Automobile Co and Mazda, has recently stepped up dramatically the pace of its expansion in China: two weeks ago it said it would invest $600m to expand capacity at its facility in Chongqing, central China, the largest manufacturing base for the company outside its home in southeastern Michiga... n. The company said it would bring 15 new vehicles and 20 new powertrains to China by 2015, increasing the company's relatively limited product range available on the mainland. Ford is expected to unveil a sport utility vehicle at the Beijing car show, which opens on Monday, hoping to tap rising mainland demand for more fun, individualistic kinds of vehicles among younger buyers. Meanwhile Ford's US rival in China, GM, played down speculation that it had reached a deal with its Chinese joint venture partner, SAIC, to regain equal equity control of their joint venture by buying back 1 per cent of the equity sold to SAIC when GM was in financial straits in 2009. That deal had a proviso to allow GM to buy back the stake, so long as SAIC continued to be able to claim the joint venture's revenues under new Chinese accounting rules. The Wall Street Journal said on Thursday that agreement had been reached to split the venture into a sales arm and an operational arm, with GM and SAIC sharing control of the operational side equally. But GM said that negotiations on the matter are "ongoing" and that there was "no specific date set" for the repurchase. Any such deal would require government approval.Read More