After declaring earlier this year that its operations in India will “continue as is” Ford has announced that it will be ceasing all vehicle manufacturing in India. This brings to an end the manufacture and sale of India-specific models such as the Figo, Aspire, Freestyle, and EcoSport by the second quarter of 2022.
In a statement, Ford will wind down vehicle assembly in Sanand by the fourth quarter of this year, and vehicle and engine manufacturing in Chennai by the second quarter of 2022. With that, the American carmaker will be taking a US$ 2 billion accumulated operating loss hit and a US$ 0.8 billion non-operating write-down of assets in 2019.
Ford India said it took these restructuring actions after investigating several options, including partnerships, platform sharing, contract manufacturing with other OEMs, and the possibility of selling its manufacturing plants, which is still under consideration.
Approximately 4,000 employees are expected to be affected by the restructuring.
Ford says the restructuring will hopefully create a sustainably profitable business in India. In that regard, they plan to replace locally designed and engineered products with global ones, particularly hybrid and all-electric vehicles.
Ford India will maintain a smaller network of suppliers to support engine manufacturing for exports and will work closely with other suppliers to ensure a smooth wind-down of vehicle manufacturing. The company also will continue to rely on India-based suppliers for parts for its global products.
If Ford plants in India will cease production, where will we get the future EcoSport variants in our country?
ReplyDeleteWe currently source our units from China. The bigger news is if EcoSport development will stop; after all, the EcoSport was really made for the India market. Either the development will move globally--perhaps Europe, or the name plate will be discontinued altogether.
DeleteSo does that mean:
DeleteEither move the production in Europe, which will subject future EcoSport imports to that sky-high 30% tax duty (among others) which will make it unsuitable for our territory (pun intended, also I read that their venture in China isn't also faring well that much)
Or they discontinue the best-selling Ford model outside of Ranger (and is still selling well here I guess) which will anger some people here.
I feel like Ford's situation is now in parallel to what exactly happened with GM/Chevrolet back then. Sad.
Correction in my reply: it's actually up to 40% tax on imported vehicles
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