The Ford-Mahindra alliance looks to improve Ford’s reach across India using Mahindra’s established network.
Taking a step forward with the Ford-Mahindra alliance, the Indian automaker has started selling Ford vehicles using its dealership network across the country. Mahindra dealers are opening new showrooms in those parts of India where the Detroit, US based company does not have a reach or are not receiving the expected sales numbers. Separate service centres are also being opened for Ford cars at Mahindra dealerships.
Mahindra dealers also benefit from the move as they will now also be responsible for setting up showrooms and can make money from the sales and servicing of Ford’s products, including the Ford EcoSport. The pilot for this initiative has already begun in 15 Tier 4+ cities and the responses are definitely good, said Ford India Pvt. Ltd.
Ford and Mahindra had signed their first agreement to collaboratively build a new SUV and a small electric vehicle. This was in March and by October, the two companies had signed two more agreements to use the same BS6-compliant engines in their vehicles and to develop connected vehicle solutions made for the Indian market.
The expanded alliance is likely to have current Mahindra dealers sell future products that will be jointly developed by both companies from the new showrooms. This discussion has been on the table for at least 6 months now.
This joint venture by Ford and Mahindra will be a crucial move to bring both companies up the ladder against their larger rivals like Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai. Giving the customers a wide range of choices by putting together the product portfolio with elements from both companies will be a very important duty of this alliance.
Achieving this at minimum investment so that the customers can gain the perks of better technology at lesser budgets and an improved sales and service network will be the focus of the alliance. In the next 5 years, it is likely that the companies will come up with a system of points to install charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.
The alliance will help existing Mahindra dealers to draw more customers as their last few vehicles were not very successful with this. The coming together of these two companies will definitely improve Mahindra’s profitability and Ford’s reach in the Indian market.
Mahindra Starts Selling Ford Cars
– Mahindra to set up new showrooms and service centres to sell Ford vehicles across their dealership networks
– Companies working on improving Ford’s reach and Mahindra’s profitability
– Both companies will use the same BS6 petrol engines in the future
Source – LiveMint.com