After leaving the shores some two years ago, speculation is rife that the American automotive giant wants to sell in India and export out of here. By holding on to its Chennai plant, it wants to focus on the electrification and digital transformation of core segments in which it is a leader—trucks, SUVs and commercial vehicles
Jim Farley, CEO of Ford Motor Company
Image: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
It was a twist that many didn’t see coming.
But India’s automobile industry is abuzz with speculations about American automotive giant Ford making a re-entry into the country after leaving the shores some two years. It all began with Ford’s decision to walk away from a deal to sell its manufacturing plant in Chennai after coming to an agreement with the $23 billion-JSW Group.
The Ford Motor Company Chennai assembly plant, also known as the Chennai Vehicle & Engine assembly plant, is located in Maraimalai Nagar, Tamil Nadu, and boasts a capacity to manufacture 200,000 vehicles and 340,000 engines a year. Already, Ford had sold a manufacturing facility that it had in Gujarat to Tata Motors last year and the sale of the Chennai plant would have signalled the end of a nearly-three-decade tryst with India, when it had become one of the first global automakers to enter India under a liberalised regime.
Now, with the company deciding to hold on to the plant, speculations are rife about Ford bringing its popular SUVs to India, especially as India’s automobile transitions from small cars and sedans to SUVs. It could also just be that the plant might fit into Ford’s export plans.
“Globally, under its current CEO, Jim Farley, Ford is focussed on the electrification and digital transformation of core segments in which it is a leader, namely trucks, SUVs, commercial vehicles, and performance cars,” Vinay Piparsania, a former director at Ford India and an automotive and mobility expert, tells Forbes India. Under Farley, Ford has chosen to move away from cars into segments such as SUVs, trucks (common name for pickup vans), hybrid and electric vehicles (EV).