American automobile giant Ford Motor Co expects China, India and some other markets in the Asia-Pacific region to grow at the fastest pace in the world in the next four-five years.

Asia-Pacific currently accounts for nearly 19 per cent of Ford Motors' global sales, but Ford CEO Alan Mulally said that the region would be contributing nearly 40 per cent to its global sales in the next four-five years.

Speaking on the topic, Mulally said, "In the next four to five years, sales from Asia-Pacific would be about 40 per cent."

Mulally added that Asia-Pacific was an important region for Ford and that the company was putting strategies in place to tap the domestic markets and use the region as a sourcing hub. He further said that its manufacturing plants in India would support the local market as well as other global markets.

On Monday, Ford started shipping its locally-manufactured EcoSport compact sports utility vehicle (SUV) to take an advantage of growing demand in India for mini SUVs. Ford is currently manufacturing the EcoSport in Brazil, China and India. The company is now planning to start manufacturing the EcoSport in Thailand and Russia also.

Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford is making huge investments in seven manufacturing facilities in the Asia-Pacific region - five in China and two in India.