Ford Sets Goal To Expand Sales in Asia

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by Dee-Ann Durbin AP Auto Writer

DETROIT (AP) - Ford Motor Co. says it wants to expand its global sales by 50 percent by the middle of this decade, mostly through growth in Asia.

The company planned to present its plans at a meeting for investors in New York.

Ford sold 5.3 million vehicles last year, but wants to sell 8 million in the next five or six years. It was the world's fifth largest automaker in 2010, behind Toyota Motor Corp., General Motors Co., Volkswagen AG and Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group.

Ford wants more than one-third of its sales to come from its Asia Pacific and Africa region by 2020. That is double the number sold in those regions today. In 2010, Ford sold 838,000 cars and trucks in the Asia Pacific region, which includes China, India, Australia, South Africa and Japan among its 12 markets. It controlled 2.4 percent of that region's sales.

Ford has seen relatively strong growth in India, where it doubled sales last year thanks to the introduction of the subcompact Figo. But it is still a small player in China, where GM and Volkswagen have far more market share.

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