Ford entered the Indian market way back in the late-90s by launching the Escort first and then the Ikon and Mondeo. These sedans turned out to be expensive to maintain and therefore left a bad taste in buyers’ mouths. After this, the Endeavour and Fiesta (now Classic) entered the market. The older Fiesta did manage to be slightly cheaper to maintain than the Ikon while Ford worked really hard to reduce cost of spares for other products in the stable too. This move helped the company find more customers and hence the Figo and EcoSport have been successful.
Now, Ford India has enabled over-the-counter sale of spare parts of its vehicles. After this move, Ford parts will be easily available in the aftermarket. This means that owners of Ford vehicles will be able to get their cars serviced and repaired in aftermarket garages which are not necessarily Ford-authorised. Nigel Harris, Ford India President said that their customers wanted their spare parts to be easily accessible and hence they decided to take this decision. This move also has one downside – now more customers will avoid going to the company’s authorised service centres and hence they stand to lose some business.
Ford India stated that its dealers don’t have a problem with this decision since the company will be launching more products in India in the coming years and hence the showrooms and service centres will anyway be busy. This move by Ford will have a very positive effect on its present as well as prospective customers. Apart from Ford, other companies like Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Tata Motors and Mahindra sell their spares in the aftermarket. This move will also reduce production and distribution of fake spare parts in the market.
