New launches and the coming festive season have spurred Ford India to increase production by over 30% this month onward. "We have been producing about 130 vehicles a day, but this will be increased to 174 vehicles a day this month. There has been an increase in demand for the Ikon, which was given a facelift last November, Fiesta and Endeavour," said Michael Boneham, president and managing director, Ford India, at the launch of the new version of Ford Endeavour on Wednesday.
The new Endeavour is priced between Rs 15.99 lakh and Rs 17.99 lakh (ex-showroom New Delhi). "We are currently selling 250-300 units of Endeavour, which commands a market share of 39% in the premium sport utility vehicle category, and the company expects an increase of 10-15% in sales after launch of the new model," Boneham said.
Ford India, which had last year announced a $500-million investment plan spanning over three years to expand its manufacturing facility, setting up a new diesel engine plant and product development, including a small car for the Indian car market, is expanding into smaller cities this year. "We will set up 20 more outlets this year, especially in tier-III cities and a few in tier-I cities, over and above the 137 outlets that we currently have," said Nigel Wark, executive director (marketing, sales and service), Ford India.
Ford India currently has an installed production capacity of one lakh units at its Chennai plant, which will be expanded to two lakh units once its small car project kicks off.
Boneham said the company would start exporting both petrol and diesel engines to markets, including Asean countries, once the new plant come up early next year. "Our small car would be launched next year and we would start exporting it by the end of 2010," he said. Boneham, however, said the company expects its overall vehicle sales in 2009 to remain more or less flat at around 31,000 units, as compared to last year.
Source: Financial Express
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