The American automaker, Ford is developing its upcoming global products, keeping India as a reference point and would take them to other similar emerging markets as well. The manufacturer is betting big on its One Ford strategy, which consists of taking a single global approach on its overall business. According to Ford Asia Pacific Vehicle Line Director, Graham Pearson, developing a vehicle keeping the Indian buyers in mind can help in achieving cost advantage while taking the products to other similar markets.
Ford also believes that working for the Indian market is extremely challenging, as the Indian customers are truly value sensitive. So in that case, when the automaker develops a world class product in India, the company can achieve cost competitiveness when they take the product to other similar markets. Ford is also following the similar strategy with the upcoming EcoSport and hopes the product to be a significant volume contributor. The Ford EcoSport will also be exported to new countries like Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan.
The company has invested 142 million dollars (Rs. 777 crores) at its Chennai plant to enhance the manufacturing capability for the EcoSport. Ford’s Chennai plant has an annual installed capacity of 2 lakh units and the manufacturer is also working on another plant with a total annual capacity of 2.4 lakh units coming up at Sanand in Gujarat by next year. With the new strategy being planned by the American automaker, we can expect more products by Ford with attractive pricing in the future.
Source – Economic Times
