Ford: We Will Sell 20,000 Fiestas In China This Year

CHONGQING, China, Jan 18, 2003; Reuters reported that Ford Motor Co said on Saturday it expected to sell 20,000 Fiesta small cars in fast-growing China this year, rising to 50,000 in 2004.

"We hope to build and sell 20,000 units this year," David Thursfield, Ford's executive vice president and head of international operations and global purchasing, told Reuters.

"Next year, we will be looking at 50,000." he said in an interview just before a ceremony to mark the launch of the Fiesta, the first car to be made by Ford in China.

The Fiesta, whose name means "festival" in Spanish, zeroes in on the top-selling models of Ford's major rivals, such as General Motors and Germany's Volkswagen, which Ford has lagged in China.

Both GM and Volkswagen started rolling out cars here years ago and sell a range of models. Thursfield said Ford had to push out more products to win a slice of the fastest-growing car market in the world.

"We are conscious of that and we can use our global resources and brands to satisfy the Chinese customer," said Thursfield, the number three man at the world's second largest automaker.

The Fiesta takes Ford's long-standing war against GM to China, where booming economic growth accelerated car sales by 56 percent to 1.126 million units in 2002.

GM trimmed prices of its best-selling Chinese car by three percent days before the Fiesta's unveiling, to 89,900 to 129,800 yuan ($10,860-15,680). The Fiesta's tag is 88,800 to 127,800 yuan.