Ford Sets Aggressive Sales Growth Targets, with Focus on Asia

Ford Motor Company F is expected to announce aggressive sales growth initiatives Tuesday, with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Seeking to increase the company's worldwide sales to 8 million vehicles a year from 5.3 million now, Ford is taking big steps to make the competitive jump. With 15% of the company sales currently coming from the Asia Pacific-Africa division, it hopes to expand to 1/3 of global sales by 2020. According to a New York Times report, "After revamping its core North American business and posting eight straight profitable quarters, Ford is pushing hard to build up operations in Asia. The company has already exceeded expectations for its turnaround in its home market, and now has the financial strength and product lineup to try to repeat that success in what has been its weakest region." The company will face considerable difficulties, however. General Motors and Toyota already have significant footholds in the region, and aren't likely to retract similar goals of Asian growth. China will be a major hurdle, with Ford only holding 4% of current market share. General Motors, which has focused on China in particular in recent years, holds a 14% share. Still, Ford has reason to be optimistic. It's renewed focus on customer satisfaction and streamlined manufacturing operations have made new expansion opportunities much more reasonable. Bill Vlasic of the Times comments that "New cars like the Fiesta subcompact and Focus sedan are made on global platforms and sold in various markets around the world. That is a huge change from how Ford operated in the past, when it made different cars and trucks for specific regions of the world. Now the company can sell the same models in China, for example, that it offers in the United States. The change has cut costs and allowed Ford to shorten the time it takes to develop new products and refresh older ones." Ford designs, builds, and sells cars and trucks. It also holds a financial services division.