Ford To Stop Car Manufacturing In India, Sale Of Figo, Aspire, Freestyle, EcoSport And Endeavour To End

Ford presently sells the Figo, Aspire, Freestyle, EcoSport and Endeavour in India.

New Delhi: After suffering losses to the tune of more than USD 2 billion over the past 10 years in India, Ford has announced a restructuring of its business operations in the country, a move that is expected to affect nearly 4,000 employees. As part of the restructuring process, the automaker will cease vehicle manufacturing in India in phases. Ford will stop producing cars for sale in India on an immediate basis. The company will stop manufacturing cars for export at its Sanand plant by fourth quarter of 2021. The vehicle and engine manufacturing at the Chennai plant will cease by second quarter of 2022.

What Happens Now If You Own A Ford Car?

Ford has said that it will continue to provide vehicle aftermarket parts, service facility, and warranty support to its customers in India. The automaker will maintain parts depots in Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Sanand and Kolkata. According to Ford, it will closely work with its dealer network to restructure and help facilitate their transition from sales and service to parts and service support.

What Happens to Present Ford Models In India?

At present, Ford sells five models in India — Ford Figo, Ford Aspire, Ford Freestyle, Ford EcoSport and Ford Endeavour. The sale of all these five models will stop once the existing dealer inventories are sold. The Ford EcoSport and the Ford Endeavour have been the two largest-selling models of the automaker in India.

However, Ford will import and sell vehicles, including the Mustang coupe, in India.

Ford’s Losses in India

According to Ford, it has suffered accumulated operating losses of more than USD 2 billion over the past 10 years in India. Also, there was a USD 0.8 billion non-operating write-down of assets in 2019.

Ford Motor Company President and CEO Jim Farley’s Statement

“As part of our Ford+ plan, we are taking difficult but necessary actions to deliver a sustainably profitable business longer-term and allocate our capital to grow and create value in the right areas,” Farley said, adding that despite investing significantly in India, Ford has accumulated more than USD 2 billion of operating losses over the past 10 years and demand for new vehicles has been much weaker than forecast.

“I want to be clear that Ford will continue taking care of our valued customers in India, working closely with Ford India’s dealers, all of whom have supported the company for a long time. India remains strategically important for us and, thanks to our growing Ford Business Solutions team, will continue to be a large and important employee base for Ford globally,” Farley noted.