Ford Motor Company is planning a small car for the fast-growing Indian passengar car market, and will be investing $500 million (about Rs 2,000 crore), spread over 2-3 years, in its Indian operations to produce small cars and build an integrated engine manufacturing plant.
The announcement today more than doubles Ford's total investments in India to $875 million, and is part of the US-headquartered Ford's Asia Pacific expansion as the company seeks growth in emerging markets.
Ford announced a $500 million investment in Thailand in 2007 to build small cars - just weeks after launching a small car production line at a new $500 million facility in Nanjing, China.
The $500 million investment in India is aimed at achieving significant volumes in both vehicles and engines in the next two years, and will make India a production hub for small cars in the Asia-Pacific region, Arvind Mathew, president and managing director, Ford India, said. He declined to elaborate on the new small car's features instead stating that it would be a worthy competitive product in the Indian small car segment.
The first part of the investment will support Ford's entry into new product segments including the roll out of a small car within the next two years. The company will expand its Chennai manufacturing operations to accommodate the incremental product line. The expansion will see Ford India's total annual production capacity going up to 200,000 units by 2010 from the present 100,000 units.
No comments:
Post a Comment