A partnership between Ford and Chinese automaker Jiangling Motors Co (JMC) has been dissolved after incurring sustained losses totaling at least 750 million yen (A$153 million) since its announcement in January 2022.
According to Ford, the Jiangling Ford Automobile Technology (JFT) joint venture was formed to “accelerate the growth of Ford’s passenger vehicle business in China.”
However, a report from Jiangling Motors published in 2025 confirmed that the joint venture had accumulated even higher losses of 2.3 billion yen (A$480 million) over four years, with its revenue falling 45.4 percent last year alone.
According to Chinese news agency Soho.comthe JV has now been liquidated. Ford has not made an official statement.
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Although the joint venture did not manufacture vehicles, it was tasked with driving sales growth by building a dealer network of 181 stores across China, marketed as outdoor/adventure lifestyle-oriented “Ford Beyond” stores.
Separate from Changan Ford – a 50-50 joint venture between Ford and Changan that makes the brand’s vehicles in China – the “Ford Beyond” stores focused on SUVs and pickup trucks rather than traditional passenger vehicles.
The strategy aimed to capitalize on China’s easing of regulations on the use of pickup trucks in urban areas.
It was expected this would provide an opportunity for more lifestyle-oriented models, such as a Chinese-market version of the Ford Ranger – Australia’s best-selling model for the past three years.
The first Ford Beyond dealership opened in October 2023 in Chongqing, where restrictions on pickup trucks had already been lifted.
The lineup also included the 2024 Bronco and the Ford Equator Sport SUV, also known as the Territory (not sold in Australia and unrelated to the locally developed 2004 to 2016 Territory).
Ford Beyond dealers also offered the Bronco New Energy, an electric SUV expected to launch in Australia in the future.
The now-liquidated joint venture was part of Ford’s broader strategy to focus on selling global models in China rather than developing customized vehicles exclusively for the local market.
Ford held a 49 percent stake in the joint venture, while Jiangling Motors Holding (JMH) owned the remaining 51 percent.
However, JMC and Ford remain long-term partners, as the US automaker first invested in the Chinese company in 1995.
Ford remains JMC’s largest shareholder with around 32 percent, with the company continuing to build Ford vehicles in China for both domestic and export markets.
The second-generation Territory, for example, is produced by JMC in China, Taiwan and Vietnam, while exports also include transit vans to markets in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and South America.
JMC also manufactures other brands of vehicles, although none are sold in Australia.
In contrast to decades of joint ventures that allowed foreign brands to enter China, Ford’s global president and CEO Jim Farley earlier this year proposed similar partnerships between U.S. and Chinese manufacturers to allow Chinese brands like BYD to build vehicles there.
Chinese automakers remain largely locked out of the U.S. market – the world’s second-largest market by volume after China – due to tariffs, national security concerns and a preference for domestic manufacturing.
In conversation with the Wall Street JournalMr. Farley said Ford also wants to expand its partnerships with Chinese companies outside the United States.
“They are truly world leaders in many ways when you look at the technology, the cost and the speed of their work.”
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