Mumbai: Ford Motor's China joint venture, Changan Ford Mazda Automobile (CFMA), today officially launched operations at its new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Nanjing, China, where it will produce the latest small-car models for both the Ford and Mazda brands.

The new $510 million facility has an initial capacity of 160,000 vehicles per year that would boost Ford's total annual passenger car capacity in China to more than 410,000 vehicles.

During a formal ceremony in Nanjing, Alan Mulally, president and CEO, Ford Motor Company, and Hisakazu Imaki, president and CEO, Mazda, and Xu Bin, president, China South Industry Group, joined local Chinese government officials to inaugurate the new plant, and review its highly flexible and automated facilities, and advanced environmentally-friendly processes.

"Integrating, leveraging and growing Ford worldwide is one of our top priorities, and our China strategy is certainly a key component to making this happen," said Mulally. "This new state-of-the-art facility will significantly increase our capacity in China, and allow us to continue our rapid growth in the market," he explained.

"Working together with our JV partners at Changan Ford Mazda Automobile and Changan Ford Mazda Engine (CFME), we''ll continue to build and introduce the types of vehicle that Chinese customers really want, and are demanding," added Mulally.

CFMA is well known in China for its high quality cars, and after several years of considerable expansion, made its way into China's top 10 passenger-car makers in April. Ford has been one of the fastest growing brands in China, recording a whopping 87 per cent increase in sales between 2005 and 2006, and a further 29 per cent increase through the first eight months of this year, with total retail sales of 114,702 vehicles.

With the inauguration of the Nanjing plant, CFMA will be able to offer a more diversified range of products for different market segments, including small cars, mid-sized and full-sized sedans. CFMA's first vehicle assembly plant in Chongqing currently produces the Ford Focus, Ford Mondeo, Ford S-MAX, Volvo S40 and Mazda3, and has an annual capacity of 250,000 vehicles.

Scalable and flexible automated production lines

The new Nanjing plant utilizes the latest auto manufacturing technologies and automation equipment. A maximum of eight models with different chassis can be simultaneously produced on the plant's advanced and highly flexible production lines, maximising production speed and efficiency.

The company says that all the 45 critical components are manufactured in-house, ensuring high-quality and precision measurements of the car body. The plant also utilises the most advanced torque monitoring and logistics delivery systems currently available in China, making it one of the country's most modern auto manufacturing facilities.

"The new Nanjing facility employs the latest automated technologies to ensure quality, efficiency and environmental protection, demonstrating our commitment to the further development of world- operations in China," said Mei-Wei Cheng, chairman and CEO of Ford China Ltd.

To ensure energy-savings and environmentally-friendly production, the plant incorporates an advanced 3C1B (3-coat, 1-bake) environmentally-friendly paint process (used for the first time in China), which is compliant with European standards and provides a 15 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions and 44 per cent reduction in particulate (VOC) emissions.

Mulally said the No 2 US automaker was keeping its target to return to the black by 2009, despite a forecast for weaker industry-wide US sales this year amidst the current mortgage crisis.

Ford can still achieve the target by restructuring its US operations and overhauling its production lines to cater to customer demand in North America, Mulally said.

"The world economy will continue to grow, but at a slower pace," he said.

Mulally said Ford would continue to develop its market in China, but could not rule out the possibility of exporting small cars from China. He did not elaborate.