Ford partner opens $300M commercial vehicle plant in China
by Canadian Manufacturing Daily Staff
JMC Xiaolan facility will manufacture Ford-, JMC-branded vehicles, including Ford Transit
NANCHANG, China—Ford strategic partner Jiangling Motors Corp. (JMC) has unveiled a $300-million assembly plant the pair plan to use to build commercial vehicles for the Chinese market.
Alan Mulally, president and CEO of Ford, was in Nanchang, about 700 kilometres southwest of Shanghai, to celebrate the opening of the JMC Xiaolan facility, where he boasted of the successes the long-standing partnership with JMC has brought to Ford in the world’s largest auto market.
“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,” Mulally said in a statement.
The JMC Xiaolan plant more than doubles JMC’s annual vehicle production capacity, from 245,000 to 545,000 units, according to Ford.
The facility will be used to manufacture Ford- and JMC-branded commercial vehicles, including the former’s popular Transit lineup.
In addition to launching the new plant, Ford and JMC also announced plans for a brand new engine plant in its Xiaolan manufacturing base.
The new engine plant will have initial annual capacity of 200,000 units, Ford said.
Ford and JMC first launched their partnership in August 1995.
