Ford India all set to ramp up its Chennai unit

Ford India MD and president Michael Boneham told that the fully-owned subsidiary of the US auto major Ford Motors, Ford India Motors will be one of the major production hubs for the parent company’s operations in the Asia-African region.

Ford India is all set to invest $500 million to ramp up its Chennai plant’s production capacity to 2-lakh vehicles by 2010.

The US-based Ford Motors, which has not taken any financial rescue from the US government like its peers GM and Chrysler, is developing China, Thailand and South Africa, as the other major manufacturing hubs.

The Indian arm already exports partially made kits of the Ford Ikon that are assembled in South Africa and the Ford Fiesta mid-size sedan to South East Asia. A new engine plant is also being set up with an initial capacity of 60,000 units that will also be exported to different overseas markets.

Small cars like Tata Nano, Honda Jazz, Maruti Ritz, Fiat Grande Punto are 2009 launches in India.

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