“If you remember, in 2015, when we launched the Mustang on the F1 (Buddh International Circuit), we got very good support from our customers and sold the product pretty quickly. We made it. About 100 150 units per year ”. We believe the demand for great, high quality products, true blue muscle cars, as some of you call them, is in the DNA of Ford, ”Mehrotra said.
Why is Ford manufacturing stop:
There are plenty of motives for Ford pulling the plug on its production operations in India at Sanand and Maraimalai Nagar plants, however the key motive is that plant capability utilisation has been unsustainably low. Combined, the 2 centers have a capability of manufacturing 4,00,000 devices annually, aleven though nowadays Ford has handiest controlled to provide 80,000 cars (20 percentage of the capability), with 1/2 of of these being made to export.
Jim Farley, Ford Motor Company’s president and CEO stated thru the release “Despite making an investment drastically in India, Ford has amassed greater than $2 billion of working losses during the last 10 years and call for for brand new automobiles has been lots weaker than forecast.”
Ford clients in India:
The circulate to close nearby manufacturing will in reality hit present proprietors but Ford has devoted to preserve complete guide operations with service, aftermarket elements and assurance services. Dealers too could be operational because the community might nevertheless exist to guide the CBU business. However client contact factors may also lessen mainly in smaller towns.
For the Ford lovers out there, all desire isn’t misplaced as going ahead the carmaker will specifically awareness on uploading area of interest fashions, love it does in Australia and Brazil. This method Ford ought to deliver in fashions including the Mustang, which it introduced and additionally different automobiles just like the Bronco, and different EVs or even the Ranger pickup truck for which the carmaker already had an India release plan.
Ford’s Future in India:
As announced, Ford will continue to have a presence in India and expand its Business Solutions team to support Ford worldwide. The team will focus on engineering, technology and business operations. India will continue to be Ford’s second largest workforce in the world, and alongside Ford Business Solutions, Ford India will continue to manufacture engines for export through the second quarter of 2022.
However, Ford says that around 4,000 employees are expected to be affected by the developments, and the company will work with employees, unions and all stakeholders to plan a fair deal.
Ford exports from India:
Ford will completely close its production facilities by the second quarter of 2022 and therefore no models for export; However, the company will continue to fulfill existing export orders and close all assembly by the second quarter of 2022. While the automaker will no longer use India as a manufacturing center for export to other regions, it will continue to depend on Indian suppliers for parts of their global products.
Ford has other options for continuing in India:
In order to continue producing cars in our market, the only realistic option for Ford was to enter into a collaboration or joint venture (JV) with another automobile manufacturer in India. and Mahindra with the official announcement in October 2019. However, this deal collapsed shortly afterwards, on December 31, 2020.
This is important for Ford, because without the joint venture there would be no new models in the near future and the factories were still underutilized. We recently looked at Ford’s difficult future in India, where we looked at its situation and options in much greater detail.