Divorces can be messy and expensive (ask me how I know) and take longer than thought (ask Frau Schmitto-san how she knows). Or ask Ford and Mazda. When Ford’s love affair with Mazda unraveled because Ford needed the cash, there was the case of their Chinese three-way joint venture with Changan. Two years ago, a deal was struck. It supposedly received the all-important Chinese government approval. Supposedly. Today, the threesome still isn’t dissolved. But it won’t be much longer.
“Ford and Mazda and their local Chinese partner Chongqing Changan have received approval from China’s central government to split their three-way, manufacturing and sales joint venture into two,” Ford CEO Alan Mulally told Reuters in Chongqing today.
The dissolution follows the old plan. Ford and Mazda share plants in Chongqing and Nanjing. Changan Ford Automobile will get the Chongqing plant. Changan Mazda will get Nanjing.
A Mazda spokesman in Shanghai told Reuters the matter is still not official, but promised that “we’re likely to make a formal announcement shortly.”
So no requirement that another JV in China be dissolved first? I thought they were trying to fix the total number of OEM JVs.
Chongqing Changan is state owned, I believe. It just might have some influence on getting an exception.
IIRC, Changan was two local 3 way JV’s, a shared final assy plant and a shared engine plant.
It will be interesting to learn if ford gets both the engine and final plants in Changan, and if so, assuming there is not another engine plant somewhere in china, where Mazda will source their engines from (Ford Changan maybe?)
If Mazda has to get engines from Ford, I hope Ford charges them up the Ying-yang for each engine.