This will be the first major increase in production capacity by the company. Ford had last raised its capacity by 10 per cent in November 1999.

"The company is working on a single shift basis, and has ramped up production to 62 cars per day, which will go up to 75 cars by April," Ford India vice-president (marketing) John Fink said. There is a waiting period of three to four weeks for the Ikon.

The diesel model accounts for 30 per cent of Ikon's sales, while 40 per cent sales come from the 1.6-litre petrol model and 30 per cent from the 1.3-litre petrol version.

The company is not selling the base model - Ikon 1.3 CLXi - through the booking route. The car will arrive at dealerships from the middle of this month. The Ikon CLXi sports a price tag of Rs 4.76 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

The car, with an ex-factory price of Rs 4.21 lakh, was unveiled at the Auto Expo 2000 in January.

The 1.6-litre Rally Sport will be available across dealerships by mid-March, Fink said. The car got a good response at the Auto Expo, he added.

The world's second-largest auto-maker has an installed capacity of 50,000 units in the country. With additional plant modifications, the capacity can be raised to 100,000 units per annum, Fink said.

"There would be little impact on component costs, and new car prices should not change due to the budget", he added.

On the impact of the Railway Budget, Fink said the cars were transported by trucks, so the freight hike would not affect the company.

Since its launch in November 1999, Ford has delivered over 4,000 Ikons, and has about 3,600 orders in hand.

Ford India also emerged as a leader in February with 1,386 Ikon sales, exceeding that of Maruti Esteem (1,113 units) and Hyundai Accent (1,270). Ikon has established itself as the leader in the segment over the last three months starting from December.

Its cumulative sales during the December to February period stood at 4,152 units, against 3,578 Accents and 3,896 Esteems.