Q+A

Mark Fields, president and chief executive officer of Ford Motor Company, talks about the company's rapid growth in China.

How do you perceive Ford's business in China?

I feel excited and proud of what we have achieved in China. In the past several years, Ford's business has grown rapidly.

I think we are ranked the fourth in the passenger vehicle market in 2014 in terms of sales volume, compared to eighth in 2012. In the future, we'll have more opportunities.

Now that you've released Lincoln models in China, what's your expectation?

We are committed to building Lincoln into a world-class luxury brand.

Lincoln is an important factor in our future development strategy. I mentioned the goal of selling 9.4 million vehicles by 2020, in which there will be 300,000 Lincolns.

What do you think of the luxury auto market in China?

China's luxury car market is growing rapidly. We did three years of market research to make this decision.

By 2016, it's very likely China will become the world's largest luxury car market and by 2020, the market size may double what it is now.

China has a great potential for growth. Another reason why Lincoln is important for us is its profitability.

We are attracting more Ford owners. As their income grows in the future, they will want to buy luxury cars.

We hope they will buy Ford's luxury cars instead of turning to other brands.

Contact the writers at duxiaoying1@chinadaily.com.cn and haoyan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 03/23/2015 page6)