Ford India plans to capture bigger market share of the Indian auto market. It has already started its operations at its engine assembly plant in Maraimalai Nagar near Chennai. The plant shall start with annual manufacturing capacity of 60,000 units for its Fiesta and Fusion models. It shall begin is manufacturing operations with 1.4l diesel Duratorq engines.
The plant started its production last month and shall give 20% cost saving to Ford India. It would also increase the local content in both the models by 5%. Fiesta shall have 85% local content and Fusion shall have 65%.
The plant currently makes 100 engines a day in a single shift. It shall double its shift soon to reach its maximum capacity of 60,000 units per day. Ford further plans to expand its capability to 250,000 engines annually. According to the company, bulk of the production shall be consumed locally and the rest shall be exported.
According to Michael Boneham, President and MD, Ford India, “This facility will help position Ford India as a strategic manufacturing hub for low displacement power train engines within our Asia Pacific and Africa region. The domestic assembly of these engines will facilitate quicker time-to-market response, and greatly enhance the efficiencies of our operations.”
