Ford to launch its global products in Indian Market soon

Automobile major, Ford India, plans to launch more global products in the Indian market, a top company official

"We are going to bring more global products into the Indian market. We will look at options for Indian customers' needs out of our global stable," Ford India's Managing Director and President, Michael Boneham, told  here today.

"We plan to launch a new car every 12-18 months, which would include small and medium-sized cars in India, Boneham said.


After being a marginal player in India for well over a decade, US car major Ford has made a serious pitch for a larger share by launching Ford Figo, its first true B-segment hatch in India.

Aggressively priced, the new entry-level Figo Duratec LXI, equipped with a 1.2-litre petrol engine, will be priced at Rs 3.66-lakh.

Pricing of the EXI model will start at Rs 4-lakh for petrol and Rs 4.95-lakh for diesel variants.

"From the start, we wanted to offer all the features of a B-segment car at a sub-B price. We have accomplished that with Figo," Ford Asia's Pacific and Africa's President, Joe Hinrichs, said.

"Figo is completely made in India for India. The fact that we have been able to price the car so competitively is because we have 85 per cent localisation on the product, so we have been able to cut costs drastically," Hinrichs said.

Figo is an important product for the company as it was its first entry into the B-segment category and its success would pave the way for other products lined up for the Indian market, he said.

The company now plans to export a significant number of the Figo to Asia-Pacific and African countries in 2010.

The all-new Ford Figo, a modified hatchback version of its sedan Fiesta will also be exported to South Africa, he said.

The company has drawn up aggressive plans to grow its sales network in the country. Its dealership network of 167 outlets in 97 cities will be increased to 200 outlets by the year-end.

Ford will manufacture the car at its Chennai plant, where it will also make engines for the model.

The company has made an investment of $500-million in the Chennai unit which manufactures other Ford models for India too and has a total production capacity of 2,00,000 units a year and an annual engine manufacturing capacity of 250,000 units.