At the end of last week, Ford Motor Corporation has officially announced its intention to open by 2012 in China its third assembly plant. For its construction is planned to spend 490 million dollars. This Ford plans stronger foothold in China, the automobile market which is up in 2009 for the first time overtake the U.S. by volume.

The new plant will open in three years in the city of Chongqing in southwest China, where already operates one Ford’s factory. Now in China, the company produces 450 thousand cars per year. At the first stage of the annual production capacity of the new plant will amount to 150 thousand units, but later, this figure could be increased by 4 times. As stated by RBC daily in the office of Ford Motor, at first company has established a factory production of the next generation of compact cars Focus, and then going to extend the line and produced in Chongqing and other C-Class cars. Chinese Cars Ford brand will be sold not only within China but also in Western Europe. Earlier, a similar expansion of the Chinese car assembly at the West managed to make not only the Honda, which is releasing Honda Jazz at the factory in Guangzhou.

According to chief executive officer of Ford Motor Alan Mulalli, build a plant worth almost $ 500 million will be carried out by three car – Ford, Mazda and Chana Auto. “We hope that such cooperation will become a model for the Chinese car market”, – said chairman of the Chinese company, Xu Lupine. European and American companies have long turned their views on China. For example, Volkswagen in China has 13 plants, and in June this year signed an agreement to build another vehicle assembly plant in Sichuan province.

The interest of the world’s leading automakers in China is not accidental. President Ford, Mr. Mulalli notes that the demand for “world-class products and services” in China is growing. “Asia is now for us a priority. The population is increasing steadily, growing also well-being of Chinese people, who increasingly want to buy products such world-famous brand, like Ford », – told RBC daily in the press service of the company. According to the forecasts of the National Commission on Development and Reforms of China, at the end of this year, sales of automobiles in the country will grow by 28% and reached 12 million units, thereby surpassing the annual figures for the first time the United States.

According to analysts, this growth is China’s car market is made possible by the State program, which includes a tax cut for the purchase of midget cars and the allocation of subsidies to farmers for purchase of multipurpose vehicles. In the U.S. the same number of cars purchased have continued to decline. Projections of General Motors and Ford Motor, year-end sales of new cars in the country amount to 10.5 million units. This pre-crisis average number of annual avtoprodazh was about 17 million cars.