Ford Motor Co. and its two Chinese partnerships delivered 88,248 vehicles in China last month, a decrease of 2.5 percent from a year earlier.

 

In May, Changan Ford Automobile Co., Ford's passenger vehicle joint venture, sold 67,055 vehicles, virtually unchanged from the same month last year.

 

But deliveries of Jiangling Motors Corp., the U.S. automaker's commercial vehicle joint venture, dropped 4 percent to 19,692 vehicles.

 

Sales of imported Ford models plunged 45 percent to 1,501 vehicles.

 

Stagnant sales at Jiangling -- which produces the Ford Transit van, among other products -- reflects a broader sales slowdown for China's commercial truck producers, which have been hurt by the country's economic troubles.

 

For the first five months of this year, Changan Ford's sales rose 11 percent year on year to 370,268 vehicles thanks to strong volumes in the first quarter.

 

In the period, Jiangling's deliveries declined 12 percent to 102,163 vehicles. Sales of imported Ford vehicles slumped 43 percent to 7,111 vehicles.

 

For the year to date, sales of Ford and its two joint ventures totaled 479,542 vehicles, up 5 percent from the same period last year.