Ford President discusses the future of automotive plastics in China

As president of Ford Motor Company Asia Pacific and Africa, Joe Hinrichs has every reason to view the booming Chinese auto market with extreme optimism and delight.

This aggressive young administrator also saw the hidden problem: Ford, and even the world, how should we deal with the challenges of the new multi-million-dollar driving force? On this issue, he said at the China Automotive Plastics Congress held in Guangzhou recently that plastics provide a solution.

He said: "By 2020, 2 billion people in China, India and (Southeast Asia) will be able to afford cars or reach the age of drive. However, not so many gasoline or parking spots are available to such a large driving group. ”

Hinrich believes that limiting the number of drivers is not the fundamental solution. "How can we tell these people that you can't have the freedom of driving that Westerners already have?" The real solution is to improve the car itself. Hinrich said: "Plastics plays an important role in all these aspects."

Hinrichs specifically introduced a process for injecting air bubbles into plastics, illustrating how the new material can be used to reduce vehicle weight without affecting its strength. Plastics can also help car manufacturers save costs, which is important for emerging markets where consumer cost awareness is strong. In some areas of application, plastics can allow automakers to produce multiple parts in the same mold.

Hinrich said these advantages are in line with Ford’s desire to strengthen services in Asia and Africa. Although Ford Motor Company is currently only 2.5% of the country’s auto market, Ford’s growth in the Asia-Pacific region has been rapid in recent years. In the past ten years, the size of the Chinese automobile market has turned nine times. In 2010, Ford’s sales in China soared by 40%, sales in India increased by 200%, and growth in Southeast Asia by 136%. Although the overall growth rate of the Chinese market has slowed down, Hinrich pointed out that even if the growth rate is adjusted, China’s position as the world’s largest and fastest growing auto market will remain unchanged.

This market also has its uniqueness. In China, three-quarters of car buyers are buying cars for the first time. He said that when they buy a car they are usually a group of people making decisions.

He said: “We have an employee who just bought the first car. Even the color of the car is decided by her and her family. She likes yellow, and her parents like black. After some discussion, they finally chose blue."

Chinese car buyers are extremely sensitive to prices. According to Hinrich, the average Chinese consumer's psychological price when buying a car is not higher than $14,500.

In 2009, Ford’s 90% of car sales in China were settled in cash. This means that car manufacturers who want to reduce their environmental footprint will have to persuade consumers to pay for more expensive electric or hybrid vehicles. Because the return period is long.

Hinrichs said: "Now the automotive industry places great importance on the investment in driveline technology. But in the end, customers are the most important, and now customers are not buying these technologies."

To find other ways to further improve the car, car manufacturers, suppliers and material manufacturers must make great efforts to develop new innovative applications and technologies. He said: "This requires us to unite our strengths."