Watch Ford’s Nigel Harris teach you how to sell Ford’s to the Chinese

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With car sales of other 18 million cars per year in China, selling Fords to Chinese doesn’t seem like a difficult task on the surface, but once you start to see the competition which is compromised of some 50 plus local brands and 30+ foreign brands, you get an idea of the task at hand.

The interview between Thoughtful Media and Ford’s Vice President of Distribution, Nigel Harris gives some clear insights on how Ford reaches consumers and how it reels them into the brand. Although Ford’s sales lag behind GM’s sales, Ford is very pro-active in reaching potential consumers via traditional print media, social media and internet advertising. Having met Nigel myself a few years ago in Chengdu I can confirm that he is more than up to the task of clearing Ford dealerships of Ford vehicles.

Before Ford launched the Ford Fiesta in the Chinese market Ford sent out its high up executives to follow various ‘mei mei’ around town, (mei mei of course being the term for a young girl), before this sentence takes a turn for the worst Ford’s goal was to better understand the target audience for the Fiesta ahead of its launch as well as small car buyers in general. Ford wanted to have a greater understanding single, independent, female executives with an income of around 1500USD per month. Judging from Fiesta sales over the course of 2011, it seems that Ford’s homework really paid off, the Fiesta was one of the better selling small cars last year although it did face some strong competition from newer models over the course of 2011.