Ford Reduces Factory Output in China as Auto Market's Growth Slows

By Christina Rogers 

Responding to slowing growth in China, Ford Motor Co. trimmed factory production in the first quarter to avoid having to match price cuts taken by other auto makers there, the company's Asia chief said Thursday.

"We have seen a little bit of a slowdown in showroom traffic," Dave Schoch, Ford's group vice president of Asia Pacific. "If there is softness in the market, I won't let stock build and we'll cut production."

The reductions are "nothing material" and targeted only certain models, Mr. Schoch said, declining to name which ones. Ford is trying to resist making price cuts to preserve the value of its cars, he said.

The move comes as Ford and other car makers continue to add factory capacity in China even as growth in the broader auto market stalls amid a slowdown in the country's economy.

Last year, Ford brought two new plants online in China and opened another one in the first quarter this year, hoping to tap a market that it expects to grow from 24 million last year to 32 million in 2020.

Despite such projections, the Dearborn, Mich., auto maker last month cut its industrywide outlook for the year in China by about half a million units to reflect the slowdown, forecasting sales of 24 million to 26 million in 2015.

Mr. Schoch is optimistic Ford can weather the slowdown with a number of new models arriving in China this year, including a new Ford Edge and Ford Taurus, both vehicles tailored to the Chinese market.

Write to Christina Rogers at [e-mail]

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