Ford to Pour $1.8 Billion Into Smartcars for Chinese Market

The company has rapidly expanded in Asia in recent years and has now become the fifth-biggest foreign automaker in China.

SHANGHAI-Ford Motor Co.is betting that a new generation of smartcars will help its rides stand out in China, where its sales have been slipping amid industrywide weakness and rising competition.

The American automaker said Monday it will expand a research and development centre in the eastern city of Nanjing and work on autonomous driving and other features.

Reuters reports that the company is also looking to take advantage of China’s push to cut emissions, saying it will offer customers in the country a range of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and full electric vehicles by 2020. A few have broken with a strategy of selling the same models worldwide and are creating China-only vehicles. New auto sales in China dropped 3.4 percent to 1.42 million vehicles in August, marking the third month of declining sales, according to the AP. Its future Chinese products will include features developed specifically to appeal to Chinese customers as it hopes to expand in China.

Automakers are stepping up investment despite an unexpectedly sharp downturn in sales this year.

Ford said it hopes to introduce Sync 3, a connectivity system that offers hands-free control over phones, entertainment, climate control and navigation.

Five years ago, Ford unveiled an ambitious $5 billion plan for China with an aim to double its annual car- manufacturing capacity there to 1.2 million vehicles.