Ford announced exit from the Indian market last month – Now the last Ford car has rolled out from Sanand plant in Gujarat
Following a 25 year stint in the country, last month, Ford announced that it will stop all manufacturing activities in India. Despite of being one of the first foreign car manufacturer to arrive in India, Ford failed to make its mark in the country.
Ford Motor Co, that till recently manufactured 5 models locally had a meagre 1.7 percent market share in the passenger vehicle segment. These five cars were EcoSport, Figo, Freestyle, Endeavour and Aspire. Of these, EcoSport was its best-selling model and most exported car from India.
Last Ford Car From Indian Plant In Sanand
Though Ford announced its exit from the Indian market last month, production continued in small capacity. With last of the available / stocked parts coming to an end – the production has also come to an end at Sanand plant. As per Labour News, the last car has been rolled out from the Ford India plant in Sanand.
From the Sanand plant, Ford manufactured Figo, Aspire and Freestyle. These cars were created to challenge the dominance of Maruti Swift and Dzire – which at one point of time were generating over 40k in sales per month. Ford cars never managed to put up a fight to Maruti twins in sales.
Probably that is where the planning went wrong for Ford. Instead of going after market leader Maruti, they could have focused more on the segment where Maruti had none or little presence. Success of Kia Motor and MG Motor has shown us that it is possible to become successful in the Indian market, with just their first car.
Tata Taking Over Ford Chennai Plant?
As Ford India winds down its Indian operations and its Sanand plant in Gujarat and at its Chennai plant, it has just been learnt that the Chennai plant could be taken over by Tata Motors. Ford Group had invested $2.5 billion into these two plants.
This development was likely discussed at a meeting held on Wednesday between Chairman of the Tata Group N Chandrasekaran and Chief Minister MK Stalin. Industries Minister Thangam Thennarasu and Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu also attended the meeting.
Tata Group has a formidable presence in Tamil Nadu in the field of software, tea, chemicals and power and is now set to take over the Ford plant for its automobile production. If Tata does take over the Ford plant, it will be good news for thousands of the workers and many others who were associated with the Ford Chennai plant.
Ford becomes the 5th automaker to pull out of manufacturing in India. MAN Trucks, Fiat, General Motors, Harley Davidson and UM Motorcycles have all stopped local production. More recently Honda Cars India also shut down its facility in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh while production continues at the Tapukara plant in Rajasthan.
