Ford Motors, the American auto giant, seems set to expand its brand presence all around the globe as the company has announced its intentions to establish nine new manufacturing facilities in Asia Pacific region. Reportedly, through its new units, the company will introduce around 50 new models and engines by the end of 2015. Following the move, the auto maker anticipates to account 70 per cent to its overall growth from the region in next 10 years.
The Head of manufacturing operations in Africa and Asia Pacific, Gary Johnson has stated that Ford Motors will transform India into a major hub for manufacturing engines and cars, which will be sold in the entire right-hand drive markets of the world. The company has lined-up eight new models for the Indian auto market, including EcoSport SUV, which will be produced at the company's Chennai plant.
As a part of development, the car maker has also announced the commencement of operations at its second unit in Sanand, which has an annual production capacity of 2.4 lac units per year. According to company, the new facility will help it to remain parallel with the increasing demand from the Indian market, which is anticipated to go beyond five million by fiscal 2016.
Launch of new vehicles in India will help Ford to deliver a stiff competition to Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors, which have presently dominated the small car and Utility Vehicle (UV) segments.
Expressing his views on the new development, Johnson quoted, “We are looking at introducing several new cars in India. Notwithstanding the current slowdown in the domestic market, we are getting ready to meet the demand from all segments as some big volumes are expected in near future. We are investing more than $2 billion to build our new factory in Gujarat. We will have a cumulative capacity to build 4.5 lac cars and six lac engines in India by 2015. This will help us export Indian-built engines to Europe as per market demand.”
From India, the company currently exports 25 per cent of its vehicle production and 40 per cent of engine production to around 35 countries across different continents.
Besides two facilities in India, establishments of five new units in China, one in Asean bloc and one in Thailand is also on the cards of the auto maker. The mentioned three regions will serve as major hubs to the auto maker in Asia as the company is betting big on these markets.
Johnson further added, “The key strategy is to support the domestic market and also have enough production to look at export markets. Cumulatively, when we look at the production strategy, the nine plants will roll out the 70% growth for the next 7-8 years. This will give support to the Asia-Pacific market as well as Ford globally.”
The auto maker is currently eyeing at small operations, which is both flexible and optimum in the country. The level of automation at Ford's Chennai plant is kept at 50 per cent for significant areas like body shop, as followed in the markets of China and other developed countries. On this, he said, “If we have a model for the masses, it will be a global one, as in case of the Figo. Ford's advantage, across regions, lies in the flexibility allowed by the One Ford plan. It allows us to leverage our global resources to build and supply global products that customers want.”
