If the MG-Ford deal goes through, Ford’s 4000 employees who are in fear of losing their jobs may be saved
The Indian automotive industry is currently expecting a MG-Ford deal, which will see the SAIC subsidiary takeover the American firm’s assets in the country, to be announced soon.
Ford India announced recently that it will stop its manufacturing operations in the country. The firm will cease production of engines and vehicles at its Chennai facility, while its Sanand factory will continue to produce engines alone.
However, Ford has officially said it is considering selling its Indian factories, following which discussions, which are in very early stages, have begun with MG.
An MG-Ford deal (contract manufacturing) was anticipated earlier too, before the American firm had shown signs of exiting India, but had to be put off due to the pandemic, resultant lockdowns and the impact these had on passenger vehicle sales.
Now though, ‘all options’ are being looked at, be it contract manufacturing or an outright sale. It must be noted that before deciding to cease manufacturing vehicles in India, Ford had indeed looked into contract manufacturing with other OEMs.
At present, MG Motor India manufactures cars at Halol in Gujarat. While capacity of the facility is being increased to 1 lakh units per annum, the SAIC-owned firm needs another factory to build its upcoming vehicles.
In August, President and MD of MG Motor India, Rajeev Chaba had announced the firm’s plans to launch a compact SUV in the market by 2023-24, followed by an MPV and a hatchback, all of which will be based on an all-new platform.
Moreover, MG also aims to introduce an electric compact SUV to rival the Tata Nexon EV in the next couple of years, followed by an electric hatchback.
