Farley said the region remains key to Ford.
“We believe that not only is it the biggest EV market in the world, but customers digitally are ahead of the rest of the world, and so it’s a really important market for us,” he said. “And what we really see in our presence there is battery technology, digital experiences for the customer and advanced products, both software and hardware integrated.”
Earlier this year Ford shook up its China leadership team, promoting Sam Wu to CEO following the retirement of Anning Chen. Wu previously served as managing director and COO.
Chen became CEO in 2018, shortly after the automaker’s sales in China began falling. The company’s sales in China totaled 1.19 million as recently as 2017 but have struggled for traction since, with market share coming in at 2.1 percent in 2022.
Ford’s biggest joint venture in China, with Changan Automobile Co., captured just 1 percent of Chinese light-vehicle sales last year, down from 4 percent in 2016, according to LMC Automotive and the joint venture’s financial reports.
The company has introduced a number of new models there in recent years, such as the Ford Evos and Lincoln Zephyr, but has been hurt by the coronavirus pandemic as well as increased competition from local EV makers.
Ford lost $572 million in China last year. The automaker no longer breaks out earnings by geographic region and stopped reporting China sales this year.