Visitors walk past a Ford Escape Titanium at the Shanghai Auto Show in Shanghai, April 17, 2019.
Greg Baker| AFP | Getty Images
DETROIT – Ford Motor joined rival General Motors in China in reporting its worst quarterly sales since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, amid a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in the country and ongoing global supply chain problems.
Ford said it sold 120,000 vehicles in the second quarter, down about 22% from a year earlier and the worst sales in Greater China since fewer than 89,000 units were sold in the first quarter of 2020, as government-imposed Covid restrictions slowed it down brought the country’s production to a standstill.
In a release late Thursday, Ford said June sales improved exponentially as restrictions eased, as total sales topped 50,000 units, up 3% year-on-year and 38% month-on-month.
“The resurgence of the pandemic in recent months has challenged us to overcome supply chain and logistics obstacles to position Ford for second-half growth,” said Anning Chen, president and CEO of Ford China, in a statement.
But there may still be challenges ahead. The daily number of Covid cases in mainland China, including those without symptoms, has risen from a handful of cases to around 200 or 300 new cases in the past few days. According to Ting Lu, chief China economist at Nomura, the number of cities restricting local movement due to Covid has more than doubled in a week to 11 on Monday, up from five a week earlier.
GM on Wednesday reported a 35.5% fall in its sales in China in the second quarter to 484,200 vehicles, the lowest sales since 461,700 vehicles in the first quarter of 2020.
– CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.