Ford to Build $1 Billion Assembly and Engine Plants in India

AutoInformed.com

Ford has sold more than 100,000 Figos in the 15 months since its 2010 intro, and is exporting Figos from its manufacturing facility in Chennai.

Ford Motor Company announced today it will build an integrated manufacturing facility and an engine plant in Sanand, Gujarat, India.

Representatives from Ford and the State of Gujarat signed a memorandum of understanding for the $1 billion investment in the two plants. Included in the price are stamping, body, paint and assembly operations for vehicle manufacturing, as well as machining and assembly operations for engine manufacturing.

India is projected to become the world’s third largest light vehicle market by the end of the decade behind China and the U.S.

More than 2.7 million passenger cars and light-commercial vehicles were sold in India in 2010, up from just 700,000 light vehicles in 2000. India, a country with a population of nearly 1.2 billion, is expected to reach 11 million light-vehicle sales by 2020. (See India to be Third Largest Auto Market behind China and U.S.)

The vehicle manufacturing facilities will have an initial annual capacity of 240,000 units, and the engine plant will have an initial annual capacity of 270,000 engines. Ford’s investment will also create 5,000 jobs at the new facilities.

Ford in a statement said it selected Gujarat because of its pro-business environment, infrastructure, access to ports in northwestern India and skilled workforce. The new facilities will allow access from operations at the new manufacturing site to the heartland of the critical north and western India regions, where the largest share of the country’s passenger car industry exists.

Construction of both plants will begin later this year, with the first vehicle and engine scheduled to come off the line in 2014. In 2010, Ford announced it would bring eight new vehicles to India by mid-decade. Ford currently has a vehicle manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu and is expanding its engine plant there.

This additional investment brings Ford’s total investment in India to approximately $2 billion. Currently Ford employs more than 10,000 people in India across its manufacturing, global business services and IT operations.

About Ken Zino

Ken Zino, publisher (kzhw@aol.com), is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn. Zino is at home on test tracks, knows his way around U.S. Congressional hearing rooms, auto company headquarters, plant floors, as well as industry research and development labs where the real mobility work is done. He can quote from court decisions, refer to instrumented road tests, analyze financial results, and profile executive personalities and corporate cultures. He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe. Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap. AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks. Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
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