Ford Motor Co expects sales in its Chinese venture to grow at least 10 percent this year after the government stimulus plan in the automotive industry begins to take effect, a company executive said yesterday.

Ford expected its three-party venture with Chang'an Ford Mazda Automobile Co Ltd to have faster sales growth than the industry average this year as it promotes small cars, said Nigel Harris, general manager of the venture's sales branch.

Chang'an Ford Mazda launched the Fiesta in China last week, including a four-door version. The Fiesta is the first in a series of small, fuel-efficient cars developed by Ford as the car maker seeks to cut costs and boost sales in emerging markets.

"The Fiesta is being launched at the right time as the small car segment has tremendous potential in China with the government's boosting measures," said Jeffrey Shen, president and chief executive officer of Chang'an Ford Mazda.

Chinese consumers want more fuel efficient models to lower driving costs and the demand for small cars surged after the central government announced that it would halve the vehicle purchase tax on small cars in January.

The Fiesta model, which is being built in Nanjing City, capital of Jiangsu Province, will have a 1.3 or 1.5-liter engine and cost between 78,900 yuan (US$11,535) to 111,900 yuan. The company expects monthly sales in excess of 4,000 units.

Chang'an Ford Mazda's sales dropped 6 percent to 204,334 units last year because its Focus and Mondeo lost ground to models from Volkswagen and Toyota. Industry-wide sales expanded 6.7 percent to 9.38 million units during the same period.

General Motors Corp last week said that industry-wide car sales in China may grow between 5 percent to 10 percent this year, compared with an earlier forecast of less than 3 percent.

(Shanghai Daily March 9, 2009)