Michigan-based auto company Ford Motor Co. recently reported its worst quarterly sales in China amid the pandemic, CNBC reported. The declines are mainly attributed to a sudden increase of COVID-19 cases in the country, and ongoing global supply chain delays.
“The pandemic’s resurgence in the past few months challenged us to overcome supply chain and logistics obstacles to positioning Ford for growth in the second half of the year,” said Anning Chen, president and CEO of Ford China, according to CNBC.
According to the report, Ford sold 120,000 vehicles during the second financial quarter, representing a 22% decline from last year’s figures.
The company has not experienced such a major decline in China since it reported 89,000 sold units during the first quarter of 2020, when COVID-related restrictions were first declared.
Though affected by the losses, the company’s hope is restored after seeing sales improvements in June amid the Chinese government’s decision to ease its COVID-related restrictions, resulting in the overall sales of 50,000 units, reflecting a 3% year-over-year and 38% month-over-month increase.
Despite the improvements, the company still fears ongoing challenges as cases continue to rise, surging to 200-300 new cases in the last several days alone, according to Mainland China’s daily Covid Case count. Local movement was blocked off again in various cities earlier this week in response to the infection increases, chief China economist at Nomura, Ting Lu reports.
China reported an overall decline of 35.5% in its second-quarter sales, the lowest sales since the 461,700 vehicles reported when the pandemic was first declared.