Ford bullish on Indian market

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Chennai, Nov 21: Ford India has ruled out any cut in investments or manpower in India, and is gearing up with an “aggressive product portfolio” to increase its market share, said Nigel E Wark, executive director (marketing and sales) and Timothy D Tucker, vice-president (sales), Ford India.

“We remain bullish on the Indian auto market,” said Wark.

Terming the current crisis in the automobile sector as a short-term phenomenon, he said, “It took us a few years to understand the Indian market and we are now in a position to explore it in a big way. We believe that India will be one of the major markets for Ford.”

“Despite a sharp decline in sales in the current year, Ford is taking a number of initiatives, including a new engine plant, increased dealership network, scaling vendor network, staff repositioning and brand promotion exercises to become a major player,” he noted.

The current situation in the Indian market is owing to global problems, lack of liquidity and confidence, and high interest rates. “However, on the long-term, the Indian market represents a huge opportunity for players like us. A lot of action is taking place within Ford India, including improving the quality parameter, and competence,” he said.

“We have lined up a number of products from the global platform,” said Wark.

“We are also currently working on a small car, specific for Indian market conditions. We plan to launch it in the first quarter of 2010. We hope that the product will make a difference to the organisation.”

According to Tucker, Ford India is looking at localising the proposed small car to a large extent, including sourcing its engine from the company’s engine plant in Chennai.

In addition to that, Ford will be adding more vendors to ensure that the cost of ownership will be taken care of. The company will also add around 20-25 dealers over a period of time, he said.