Ford Opens New China Assembly Plant

Ford and China joint-venture partner JMC open a new plant in Nanchang, China, which more than doubles the JV’s annual capacity to 545,000 units.

The $300 million (RMB 1.8 billion) JMC Xiaolan plant produces both Ford- and JMC-branded vehicles on a flexible production line. The first vehicle to come off the line was the 7 millionth Ford Transit fullsize commercial van.

“We have a long-term commitment to this partnership and have plans in place to further increase capacity, bring in great new products and introduce Ford’s leading global technologies,” Ford CEO Alan Mulally says in a statement.

In addition to launching the new plant, Ford and JMC announced plans for a new engine plant at the Xiaolan manufacturing site. The engine plant will have initial annual capacity of 200,000 units.

As part of the expansion of the partnership, Ford says it will bring two new global products to JMC, a commercial vehicle and an all-new SUV.

Ford recently increased its stake in JMC, which it has partnered with since 1997, from 30% to 31.5%.