Ford Maverick to Be Produced by Jiangling Motors in China

The Chinese automotive market is continuing to expand, with the world’s greatest carmakers making efforts to take full advantage of the expansion. In fact, some of these are being aimed at the local production of vehicles.The latest move of this kind comes from Ford, which has reached an agreement with Jiangling Motors Company for the production of the Maverick (dubbed Yihu for the Chinese market) SUV.

Jiangling Motors had been planing to produce the Ford SUV for a while, but the agreement needed time to be completed. Now, the Chinese automaker is developing the complete plans for the vehicle’s production.

The Chinese company, which will bring the Maverich to the world using its Nanchang site, produces passenger cars and commercial vehicles.

The partnership is expected to bring benefits to both sides, as it will bring lower production costs that will allow Ford to increase the profitability of the model and it will offer Jiangling Motors the opportunity to access modern production technologies, with the know-how potentially serving as a base for the latter’s own range of cars.

Ford’s Maverick range, named Escape in North America was introduced in 2001. Using the same platform as the Mazda Tribute, the vehicle was aimed at the compact SUV market. The Maverick entered the Chinese market in 2003, with the vehicle proving to be a big hit. In 2008, the second generation of the SUV entered the Chinese market. The vehicle uses a 2.5 liter four cylinder Duratec petrol engine that develops 170 hp.