Ford Motor Company will move its Asia Pacific & Africa bi-regional headquarters from Bangkok to a Chinese city later this year, said Raj Nair, vice president of Ford's operations in Asia Pacific and Africa. He was talking at the 2009 Shanghai motor show.

 

"I think that moving the headquarters to China is because we recognize the importance of the China market to our Asia Pacific and Africa regional markets," Nair told Automotive News China at the 2009 Shanghai motor show.

 

"China is becoming the number one market in the world, and I think that's the level of focus we need to have, making sure we capture a fair share of it," he added.

 

Commenting on rumors that Shanghai has already been selected, Nair said his company has yet to decide on a particular city.

 

"We have multiple presences in multiple locations in China, so we are still going through the details such as where the headquarters will be," he said.

 

Today Ford has passenger vehicle production plants in the southwest China city of Chongqing and the eastern city of Nanjing.

 

Nair said Bangkok will remain Ford's headquarters for the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region as well as its head office for Thailand.

 

As younger consumers increasingly become vehicle owners, Ford expects sales of small cars to grow significantly in China, said Nair.

 

"They can have very affordable and very efficient vehicles, and these vehicles will still be very stylish and a lot of fun to drive," he said.

 

Ford launched sales of the new Fiesta hatchback and its sedan version in China in March. The company says sales of the cars in the first three weeks after launch were 16% ahead of its target, without specifying a figure.

 

Nair added Ford will start featuring its Ecoboost technology, based on gasoline turbocharged direct-injection engines, in its China-built vehicles from 2010, although he declined to say in which models.

 

When asked if he intended to export cars from China, Nair said Ford wants to focus on using its China capacity for the China market for the time being. Nonetheless, he added the automaker will "always study a lot of alternatives on what is the most efficient manufacturing location."