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Ford, JVs see soaring sales

US automaker Ford and its joint ventures in China sold 88,189 vehicles in July, up 15 percent from the same period last year.

Year-to-date sales for Ford, Changan Ford and Jiangling Motor Corporation total 652,836 vehicles, up 6 percent compared to the same time last year.

July sales for Changan Ford, Ford's passenger car joint venture, reached 69,074 vehicles, up 20 percent compared to July 2015.

The joint venture sold 503,719 vehicles in the first seventh months of the year, up 11 percent year-on-year.

The strong performance was led by the Ford Escort, which saw July sales up 82 percent, and the new Ford Focus, monthly sales of which were up 13 percent.

JMC, Ford's commercial vehicle investment in China, sold 17,748 vehicles in July, up 6 percent compared to last year. Year-to-date sales total 139,262 vehicles, down 5 percent.

Sunroof glitch sparks recall

British luxury carmaker Bentley Motors will start recalls of 224 Flying Spur models from Aug 29 on the Chinese mainland, according to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

Some of the imported cars, made between April 27, 2007 and Oct 29, 2007, had their sunroofs equipped before the frames were properly cleaned, which could cause some parts to fall off. Bentley's authorized dealers will check the sunroofs and fix the problem free of charge.

NEVs set to accelerate in China

China will have 1.45 million new energy vehicles on its roads by the end of 2020, almost three times the size of last year's market, according to a report compiled by the China Automotive Technology & Research Center.

Statistics show that China has become the largest market for new energy vehicles, with 497,000 units running on its roads by the end of last year, with 65 percent of which operate in the public service industry.

The report said new energy vehicles will become popular with private owners, who will buy 55 percent of such cars in the coming three to four years.

The report called for more charging posts, saying that the current shortage is still hampering the development of the sector. The number of charging posts equaled just one-tenth of the number of new energy cars in China as of the end of last year.

Automakers feel heat in July

Chinese and US carmakers received more complaints than those from other countries in July, according to the car quality complaint website 12365auto.com.

The website received 3,634 complaints about car quality in July, of which 1,265 concerned US car brands and 1,264 Chinese brands. They were followed by complaints about Japanese and German brands.

Changan Ford, Skoda and Geely occupied the first three places on the July list for the number of complaints.

Motoring

(China Daily 08/08/2016 page19)