Ford China November auto sales shoot up 35 pct

Ford Motors on Saturday said its China auto sales in November rose 35 percent compared to the sales recorded last year, led by sales in mid-sized car segment, such as Ford Fiesta and Focus model. The company sold 56,829 vehicles in November 2010.

For the first 11 months of the year, Ford sold 525,100 units in China, an increase of 39 percent on a Year on Year (YoY) basis.

Models such as Ford Focus, sustained popularity in the competitive mid-sized car segment with 17,139 units sold in November, an increase of 34 percent from a year ago and sales of the Ford Fiesta went up 60 percent as against the sales during the same 11-month period in 2009.

The US car maker, in an attempt to boost sales sales in the world's biggest auto market, recently opened 40 dealerships in China and plans to add another 26 by year's end.

Like other major automakers, Ford is eying emerging markets to make up for the growth lost in the U.S. and other traditional strongholds. It expects 70 percent of growth in its sales to come from the Asia-Pacific and African regions over the next decade.

China's car market is the world's biggest and sales are growing fastest in the provincial cities as the benefits of the country's economic boom spread from its east coast to the interior where millions of new and potential car buyers live.