Chinese preferences influence Ford small car design

Kevin Huang

Automotive News | 2008-12-3

GUANGZHOU -- Ford Motor Co. will give due consideration to the preferences of Chinese customers on specifications when it designs new global small cars, according to John Sullivan, Ford's vehicle line director for global B-segment vehicles.

Ford's B-segment vehicles are small cars. Last year, the company merged its B-segment development teams around the world into one global team based in Ford's European technical center near Cologne, Germany. The new Fiesta is the first car developed by the team led by Sullivan.

Sullivan says Ford is mainly targeting four markets in the world for B-segment car sales: Europe, North America, India and ASEAN (the Association of South East Asian Nations) and China.

"China is emerging and growing into a mature B-car market, and we will see the B-car market in China rapidly growing over the next five years," he told Automotive News China at an event promoting the new Fiesta in the south China city of Guangzhou in mid-November.

Ford will start selling the new Fiesta hatchback and a sedan version of the car in China in the first quarter of 2009. The sedan version, specially designed for the China market, debuted at the 2008 Guangzhou auto show in November.

Sullivan says China is "very important" for Ford's B-segment cars from a global perspective.

He adds that the demand and tastes of Chinese customers have influenced the design of Ford's new global B-segment cars. Under Ford's "One Ford" strategy, the company develops new models for use anywhere in the world.

He gave three examples of Chinese influence on the new Fiesta:

Chinese preference for sunroofs influenced the way his team in Europe designed the roof structure and inflatable curtains of the new Fiesta. That is because the sunroof took up the space where inflatable curtains normally go.

Also, the requirement that Chinese characters be displayed in the multifunction display system led to architectural changes in the chip and memory size and some software programs of the car.

The unique requirement of C-NCAP (China New Car Assessment Program) that a car not only have an offset test but also a full frontal test, has prompted his team to change the steering column of the new Fiesta to ensure it is compatible for crash tests in all markets.

Sullivan also says the sedan version of the new Fiesta, called the four-door Fiesta, was designed in China.

"This four-door product was designed and devleoped here in China with our partner CFMA (Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Co.), and it was actually the engineers in CFMA who went about and developed it," he says.

He adds there are about 750 engineers in Changan Ford Mazda, a joint venture between China Changan Automobile (Group) Co., Ford and Mazda Motor Corp.

Sullivan says the new Fiesta is targeting hip young females who have money and appreciate avant-garde design.

At present, Ford makes the Mondeo sedan, the sedan and hatchback versions of the Focus compact and the S-MAX hatchback in China. Total sales of Ford brand passenger vhielcs built in China were 134,358 units in the first 10 months of the year.