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Ford To Bring Global Models To India
Ford India President and Managing Director, Michael Boneham, told Business Line that every car that we will be launched in India from now onwards will be seen in South America or in Europe or somewhere in the world. It is because we can't afford anymore the legacy approach which are just designed for India.
In an effort to allay customers, he also said India is a global hub and base for export of low displacement, fuel-efficient diesel and petrol small cars. He said Ford would take global platforms and adapt to local conditions but "there is nothing ongoing that is exclusive to India."
Explaining this deviation in strategy, Mr Boneham said that with the increasing movement of people across the globe, customers want access to international cars in the domestic market. Therefore "we can't have cars that only Indians will like," he said.
As part of the new strategy, he said that Ford has made several key changes in the way it manufactures these cars. Part of the investment which went into doubling the capacity of the Chennai plant to 2 lakh units was also to make the assembly lines more flexible.
Although this new strategy surprises a few, it is in line with Ford's plant capabilities.
For instance, with the new setup, Ford can now have five different derivatives on the same assembly line from body shop to trim line in the small car, right through the larger car on the same line.
"We have taken some learnings from partnership with Mazda as they have great flexibility in the manufacturing process and we have adapted them here," Mr Boneham said.
Ford has announced that it would launch eight new models by 2015 and he said that most of these cars would be in the segment which has over 70 percent of the market share. This will be very exciting for Ford fans in India. Mr Boneham said with the launch of the new models, Ford will have to invest more in increasing capacities as well as in workforce and in the products themselves.
Ford has already increased the workforce by about 1,000 during this year in its Chennai factory. He said the dealerships would also be increased to about 200 by the end of the year from the current level of over 160.
The American car maker is quite agressive because, for almost a decade, Ford has been very conservative in offering just four models, Ikon, Fiesta, Endeavour and the recent Figo. But, globally Ford has brilliant models including the futuristic Fiesta hatches and the bulky range of its pick up trucks, needless to say its sedan ranges too.
Rivals are fast catching up and blue oval is ready to answer all of them.
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