Changan Ford inspires students to reach their dreams

It moved 291,066 vehicles in the first four months of 2015, up 11 percent from the same period a year earlier. The automaker said the popularity of its SUV Kuga was a major driving force of its sales. More than 13,200 Kuga SUVs were sold in April, a 19 percent rise year-on-year.

Changan Ford's sales network has also been expanding rapidly in recent years. Statistics show that its number of dealerships hit 800 by the end of last year, more than double the number in 2010, with many of the new agents located in smaller cities.

The joint venture is also expanding its capacity and can now produce 1.4 million units a year in China. The addition of its newly acquired plant in Harbin, the capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, will scale up that capacity to 1.6 million units, according to Changan Ford.

The product portfolio is also growing rapidly at the joint venture. For some time, Chinese customers equated Ford with Focus, as the model was one of few cars the joint venture offered in the Chinese market. Now it has 10 models from sedans to SUVs for its Chinese customers.

Having become a well-established player, Changan Ford is continuing to further its dream in the industry.

"We're aspiring to be among the top three car companies in China," Burela told China Daily.

"To realize such a dream requires not only an enlarged production capacity but listening to the voice of the Chinese customers and offering models that they truly value."

He attributed the joint venture's rapid growth over the past few years to exactly that－listening to its customers－and cited the example of Focus, which has been the best-selling vehicle in China for three consecutive years.

"In fact, if you offer both good products and good service to customers, they will decide your ranking," he said.

"Our journey of realizing our dreams has just begun. We will associate more with society and give back more to society. That is the responsibility of a great company like Ford."

In addition to realizing its own dream, Changan Ford is helping realize the dreams of others, which is believed, in Chinese culture, to be a virtue of the cultured social elite.

"Let me tell you one of the many initiatives we have for young people, the one that many of you might care about－football, something that is so dear to the hearts of the Chinese people."

Changan Ford works with CFA and CSL to develop and train young Chinese footballers to an international level.

Last December, in Hangzhou, hundreds of young players played their best at the Changan Ford Future Star Cup and 24 players were selected to travel to England to meet and to be trained by world-class players and coaches at a summer football camp.

"We strongly believe that with their continuous efforts, one day China will host the World Cup and one day China will hold the World Cup in its hand," Burela said.