Photo: Screenshot of the announcement Ford makes on Sina Weibo

The year of 2021 is the Year of the Ox, according to Chinese lunar calendar, a fact that almost everybody seems to know - except the American motor company Ford. 

On Thursday, Ford posted an advertisement on China's Twitter-like platform Sina Weibo, promoting its model Mustang Mach-E. The poster shows a concept drawing of a mustang, accompanied by large characters that read: "2021, the Chinese Year of the Horse."

The advertisement containing the factual error soon drew ridicule and disbelief from netizens, whose heated discussions made the hash- tag of Ford a trending topic on Sina Weibo. The automobile brand refused to acknowledge its mistake at first. "This is the first year that Ford Mustang models are produced in China, as in 'the Year of the Horse,'" Ford's official account tried to explain in a following post. 

Netizens, however, were not convinced by Ford's claims. Many commentators believed that Ford was deliberately hyping the issue to gain more traffic, and demanded that the company apologize.

Ford on Monday acknowledged that the wording was not precise and apologized for causing "misunderstanding and distress in dissemination."

"Our previous posts promoting Mustang Mach-E were not clearly presented and the wording was not precise, which caused misunderstanding and distress in dissemination. We humbly accept criticism and suggestions, and sincerely thank everyone for concern, supervision and correction," Ford wrote on Sina Weibo.