(Yicai) Aug. 30 -- Jiangling Ford Automobile Technology, a joint venture between US auto giant Ford Motor and Chinese carmaker Jiangling Motors, has implemented significant changes to its brand positioning and decided to shift its focus to the production of pickup trucks and off-road sport utility vehicles to seek breakthroughs in the competitive Chinese market.

“Nowadays, the Chinese passenger vehicle sector is highly homogeneous, and the corresponding competition is quite fierce,” Liu Jisheng, president of Jiangling Ford Auto, said at a press conference at the ongoing Chengdu Motor Show. “We adjusted our strategy because Ford has relatively smaller advantages in the mainstream passenger vehicle market.

“Instead of being one of the many options in fields we are not particularly good at, we would rather make unique products needed by customers that are our flagship products,” Liu noted.

Jiangling Ford Auto unveiled its new SUV brand Ford Beyond and pickup truck brand Ford Ranger at the Chengdu Motor Show. Ford China’s President and Chief Executive Sam Wu said during the event that Ford Beyond will become a brand-new product for China’s enthusiasts of the outdoor and off-road lifestyle.

The new Ford Ranger’s starting price is below CNY160,000 (USD22,007), close to that of Great Wall Motor’s China-made Pao pickup series. This reflects Jiangling Ford Auto’s high hopes for Ford Ranger’s sales volume.

Ninety-seven percent of China’s small and medium cities have already revoked their restrictions on pickup trucks’ access to urban areas, said Liu. The relaxation of policies and the trend of recognizing pickup trucks as passenger vehicles will spur the increase of their market share and sales volume, he added.

“In the past, most of China’s pickup trucks were used to transport freights and also carry passengers, but they lacked the comfort of passenger cars and the driving experience was not very good,” Liu noted. “We grabbed this business opportunity to launch new products with greater comfort and took advantage of the fact that competition in this market segment is not fierce.”

Meanwhile, Ford Beyond will provide customers with automobile modification and community-based services, Liu pointed out. From October, Jiangling Ford Auto plans to build over 200 experience stores in major Chinese cities and regions to sell Ford Beyond-branded SUVs and offer related services, as well as sell the company’s previous urban SUVs.

Founded in January last year with an investment of CNY200 million (USD27.5 million), Jiangling Ford Auto was initially believed to position itself with Japan’s Toyota Motor and Germany’s Volkswagen in the mainstream Chinese passenger vehicle market. Ford owns 49 percent of the JV and JMC 51 percent. But as Ford owns 32 percent of JMC, its stake in the JV is actually over 65 percent.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione