India will be the small car market for Ford, the company?s India managing director Michael Boneham said on Wednesday. He said that owing to success of its first small hatchback in the domestic market, the company would start exporting the Figo to Mexico. ?While we are going to export the Figo to overseas markets including Mexico, West Asia North Africa and Caribbean but the majority would be for the domestic market,? Boneham said.
In 2010, the company exported around 12,000 units mainly to South Africa and Nepal. Over the next two weeks the company is going to export around 1,500 units of the Figo to Mexico. Though Boneham did not share any export targets for the year, he said if the demand for the Figo continued to be the way it currently is, then the numbers could rise significantly. ?The challenge is to manage growth in the domestic and export markets at the same time,? he added.
Though Boneham ruled out any immediate plans for setting up a new manufacturing facility outside Chennai, he said that the company had enough flexibility in operations to scale up production by starting its third shift at its existing facility. Currently the company is producing around 2,800 units per week.
In February, on the back of the Figo, the company sold more than 9,000 units overtaking its American rival General Motors. The company is in its 15th year of operations in India and has lined up a series of new car launches to penetrate the second fastest growing car market in the world. In fact, Ford India has already stated that the company would be rolling out eight new models by 2015.
Boneham said the company would be present across segments mainly in the small car space. ?India will be the small car hub for Ford globally. After all this segment constitutes 70% of the overall domestic car market. We are no longer a niche player, but a big player now,? he added.