Ford is considering making India a global production hub for its upcoming compact car, with its upcoming Sanand plant in Gujarat. The plant is under construction and is expected to be complete in 2014. Ford is currently working under a project codenamed B562, which includes three different compact cars made from the same platform. Through this project, Ford India is planning to make India, their global compact car production base, starting from next year.
This major move comes from the new strategy laid by Ford’s global production restructuring plan, which shows the American carmaker’s greater responsibility towards India against its other bases in Europe and across the world because of the increasing demand of compact cars in India. In the coming two to three years, the B562 project will see the introduction of a hatchback, sub-4 metre sedan and a mid-sized sedan out of which, the sub-4 metre sedan is still under the consideration stage, rest of the development is gathering momentum.
The upcoming hatchback is likely to be placed alongside the Figo, the sub-4 metre sedan will compete with the likes of the Maruti Swift DZire and Honda Amaze, while the mid-sized sedan will replace the Classic. In the global market, the hatchback is intended to replace the Ka hatchback. Ford aims to produce over 2,00,000 cars on the B562 platform by 2015-16 out of which, 30-50 percent are planned for exports.
The B562 platform is expected to provide largest volumes for Ford India with over 90 percent of localisation. According to the company, exports help Ford in getting the pricing right for the domestic market, as in the case of the EcoSport. With the introduction of the EcoSport, production is likely to see an increase by 50,000 to 70,000 units this year itself. On the B-platform, Ford aims to sell 2 million (20 lakh) vehicles globally.
Source – The Economic Times
