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Monday, April 20, 2009

SHANGHAI AUTO: Ford: High Single-Digit Growth In China Market


SHANGHAI -(Dow Jones)- Overall sales in China's automobile market are likely to show high single-digit percentage growth this year, a senior executive at Ford Motor Co. (F) said Monday.

Robert Graziano, chairman and chief executive of Ford Motor (China) Ltd., made the remark at the Shanghai Autoshow but declined to disclose Ford's sales target in China this year.

"Our desire is to at least meet industry growth and ideally exceed industry growth," he said.

China remains one of the few auto markets in the world that is still growing. China's auto sales climbed for a second straight month in March, rising 5% to 1.11 million units. In contrast, March sales fell 30% in the U.S. and 32% in Japan.

Last year, China's vehicle sales growth slowed to 6.7% to 9.38 million units, falling short of the official 10 million unit target. It was the first non- double-digit growth rate in China's auto sales since since 1999.

Ford's sales in China will be boosted by the introduction in early March of the Fiesta sedan and hatchback, which qualify for a purchase tax cut implemented by the Chinese government in January, Graziano said.

-By Patricia Jiayi Ho, Dow Jones Newswires; 86-21-6120-1200; patricia.ho@ dowjones.com

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