Ford banks on green vehicles for Chinese growth
Automotive News reports that Ford is banking on green vehicles to help boost growth in China beyond 2020, aiming to have 10-25% of its new Chinese fleet electrified by that time. Ford China Chairman, John Lawler, confirmed at the recent Beijing auto show that the brand will begin this push by rolling out a hybrid version of the Mondeo sedan this year, kicking off the plan that will see a $4.5bn investment introducing 13 electrified vehicles to the Chinese market by 2020.

BEIJING — Crossovers helped transform Ford Motor Co. from latecomer to a top contender in China. Now the Blue Oval is banking on eco cars to maintain that trajectory through 2020.

China is acting more like a mature market, says Ford China Chairman John Lawler, and that means the No. 2 U.S. carmaker must take its lineup into new corners.

Nothing underscored that more at last week’s Beijing auto show than Ford’s plans to introduce electrified cars to China, as well as bring in its first pickup and GT super sports car.

The new offerings will augment a five-nameplate lineup of crossovers already laser-focused on the market’s sweet spot.

Booming crossover demand helped lift Ford to 1.12 million sales in China last year, an increase of 3 percent.

The record-setting pace continued in the first three months of this year, with Ford sales up 14 percent to 314,454 vehicles. The brand’s crossovers booked a 38 percent surge in volume.

But Ford now wants 10 to 25 percent of its model mix in China to be electrified by 2020, Lawler said.