Ford and Mahindra had announced their joint venture in October 2019 and the companies were in discussions about various things like future product plans, co-development for new products and also about Ford operating together with Mahindra in the Indian market.
Just a few hours after ringing in 2021, both the automakers have announced that the joint venture has been called off. The action followed passing of the 31st December 2020 “longstop”, or expiration, date of a definitive agreement the automakers entered into in October 2019.
Both the companies have also issued individual statements. Ford India stated that their operations in our market will continue as is and the company will operate independently while Mahindra stated that the calling off of this JV won’t have any impact on their future product plans.
The automakers stated that the reason for the JV not going through was due to fundamental changes in global economic and business conditions caused due to various reasons including the ongoing pandemic. These fundamental changes made Ford and Mahindra re-think about their respective capital allocation priorities.
It remains to be seen what happens to the products that the companies were working on jointly. Mahindra is gearing up the second generation XUV500 for an early-2021 launch while Ford is developing their own SUV based on the Mahindra XUV500 and this is slated for a 2022 launch. It is highly likely that both the vehicles will be launched and Ford will enter into a contract manufacturing agreement with Mahindra. Ford’s upcoming products like the next generation EcoSport are also touted to be powered by Mahindra’s engines.
With the JV called off, customers (especially Ford) might get slightly worried about what the future holds in terms of service support and even resale but since Ford has announced that they’ll continue to operate as is, things should be good in the near future at least. Ford will probably have to undertake some initiatives to reaffirm their commitment to the Indian market and hopefully their new products will create a mark.
Ford Mahindra JV
- Ford and Mahindra have amicably and mutually called of their JV
- Mahindra stated that their future product plan won’t be impacted
- Ford stated that they will continue their India operations as is
