Ford Q2 China gross sales have been worst since Covid pandemic started

DETROIT – Ford Motor joined its crosstown rival Basic Motors in reporting its worst quarterly gross sales in China because the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, amid a resurgence of Covid-19 circumstances within the nation and ongoing world provide chain issues.

Ford stated it offered 120,000 automobiles in the course of the second quarter, a roughly 22% decline from a yr earlier and its worst gross sales in Larger China because the fewer than 89,000 items it offered in the course of the first quarter of 2020, when government-imposed Covid restrictions introduced the nation’s manufacturing to a standstill.

In a launch late Thursday, Ford stated gross sales in June improved exponentially with easing of restrictions as total gross sales exceeded 50,000 items, up 3% yr over yr and 38% month over month.

“The pandemic’s resurgence up to now few months challenged us to beat provide chain and logistics obstacles to positioning Ford for progress within the second half of the yr,” stated Anning Chen, president and CEO of Ford China, in assertion.

However there may nonetheless be challenges forward. Mainland China’s day by day Covid case depend, together with these with out signs, has surged from a handful of circumstances to round 200 or 300 new circumstances within the final a number of days. The variety of cities limiting native motion as a consequence of Covid greater than doubled in every week to 11 as of Monday, up from 5 every week earlier, in accordance with Ting Lu, chief China economist at Nomura.

GM on Wednesday reported a 35.5% decline in its second-quarter gross sales in China to 484,200 automobiles, its lowest gross sales since 461,700 automobiles in the course of the first quarter of 2020.

–CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.