Ford crosses 1 million sales mark in Asia Pacific

American automaker, Ford, sold its one millionth vehicle of 2016 in the Asia-Pacific region on September 8. The company achieved this milestone a month ahead of its last year's pace. Ford sold 1,26,834 vehicles in the Asia-Pacific region only in August, up by 22 per cent as compared to that of the same month last year. Recently, Ford introduced the Mustang sports car in countries such as India, China and Australia.

“Reaching 1 million sales so quickly is a testament to the growing strength of our brand and products in Asia,” said Dave Schoch, president, Ford Asia Pacific. “Even with intense competition and challenging business conditions, Ford continues to grow and reach new customers in Asia Pacific.”

Peter Fleet, vice president, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford Asia Pacific, said, “We are connecting with new customers with the most modern and expressive Ford lineup we have ever offered across Asia Pacific. We will continue to grow our sales across the region through the rest of this year and into 2017 as we introduce more new vehicles and technologies, such as new Kuga with SYNC 3 launching now in China.”

Ford has been struggling to sell its pocket-friendly cars, the Figo and the Figo Aspire, in India. Recently the prices were also slashed by the American automotive manufacturer to make the budget offerings extremely good value for money. Having said that, Ford has been doing good business in countries like China, Australia, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. A key driver of Ford’s growth has been the SUV lineup with year-to-date sales up by 17 percent compared to same time period last year. In fact, SUVs have accounted for 30 percent of Ford’s vehicle sales this year.