Ford to launch new cars in India

Ford India, a fully owned subsidiary of US based Ford Motors is planning to launch new cars in India as told by a top official of the company. Michael Boneham, Ford India's Managing Director and President told PTI that company is going to bring more global products into the Indian auto-market. The company is looking to provide more options to its Indian buyers from its global product portfolio. Ford is planing to launch a new car in every 12-18 months including small and medium size cars in the country, Mr Boneham added.

Ford India recently launched its Ford Figo model in India as the company is planning to capitalize on the vast opportunity exists here for small cars. The base model of Figo named as Figo Duratec LXI has been priced at Rs 3.66 lakh. On the other hand the Ford Figo EXI model is available in both diesel and petrol engine options, where the petrol variant is coming in Rs 4 lakh, the diesel variant is available in Rs 4.95 lakh.

Ford Figo is basically a small hatchback model which will compete with models like Chevrolet Beat, Volkswagen polo (launched recently), Maruti Alto, Maruti Wagon R and Hyundai i10. The model is very important for the company as this is the first-ever small car model from the company in India and its success will make a way for other global products of Ford in India. Besides selling the Figo model in India the company is also planning to export the this vehicle in other countries including Asia-Pacific and African countries. Company is also expanding its dealership network in Indian market to sell Figo model more efficiently and to enhance the market reach of the Ford Figo model. Besides this the company has also invested a large amount of Rs $500-million at its Chennai plant to enhance its manufacturing capacity to 250,000 units per year from existing capacity of 200,000 units per year.