Ford India Private Limited was a subsidiary of

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

for its operations in India. Ford India Private Limited's headquarter is located in

Sholinganallur Sholinganallur, also spelled Solinganalloor or Sozhinganalloor, is a locality in the southern part of Chennai, India. Etymology The etymology given by Tamil scholars is "chola" + "angam" + "nallur" , which indicates that Sholinganallur was on ...

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

. Ford also has integrated manufacturing facilities in Sanand, Gujarat. On September 9, 2021, Ford has exited Indian market as it failed to catch up pace with the competition and other global economic factors that led to reduction in demand. On 8 August 2022, Ford announced it would be selling its manufacturing plant in the western state of Gujarat for INR 7.26 billion (approximately US$91.5 million) to

Tata Motors Tata Motors Limited is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturing company, headquartered in Mumbai, India, which is part of the Tata Group. The company produces passenger cars, trucks, vans, coaches, buses. Formerly known as Tata Eng ...

History

Ford India Private Limited began production in 1926 as a subsidiary of the

Ford Motor Company of Canada Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited (French: ''Ford du Canada Limitée'') was founded on August 17, 1904, for the purpose of manufacturing and selling Ford automobiles in Canada and the British Empire. It was originally known as the Walkerville W ...

. The initial Ford India company was liquidated in May 1953 as a result of severe import restrictions having been enacted. Ford re-entered the Indian market in October 1995 as ''Mahindra Ford India Limited'' (MFIL), a 50-50 joint venture with

Mahindra & Mahindra Limited Mahindra & Mahindra Limited (M&M) is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturing corporation headquartered in Mumbai. It was established in 1945 as Mahindra & Mohammed and later renamed as Mahindra & Mahindra. Part of the Mahindra Group ...

. Ford increased its interest to 72% in March 1998 and renamed the company ''Ford India Private Limited''.Ford India Private Ltd, Ford Cars India, Ford Motors India, Ford Fiesta India, Ford in India
/ref> The total investments made by

since it set shop in 1995 stands at $2 billion as of April 2012. Ford launched several models in India, including the sixth generation European Ford Escort and the Ford Ikon, later followed by the

Ford Mondeo (second generation) The Ford Mondeo Mk3 (second generation) model was launched by Ford in October 2000. This Mondeo was considerably larger than its predecessor, and although Ford abandoned its New Edge design theme for the second generation, it was their fi ...

. In 2003 Ford launched its first SUV - Endeavour. The first-generation Endeavour is based on the

Mazda , commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan. In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one ...

-based

Ford Ranger Ford Ranger is a nameplate that has been used on multiple model lines of pickup trucks sold by Ford worldwide. The nameplate has been used for distinct model lines of vehicles worldwide since 1982 from the compact and mid-size pickup category. ...

pickup truck A pickup truck or pickup is a light-duty truck that has an enclosed cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (this cargo bed back end sometimes consists of a tailgate and removable covering) ...

, while the second-generation model is based on the globally-marketed T6 Ranger. In late 2004 Ford launched the European Ford Fusion, which brought a totally new segment to India - the

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which the company called as an Urban Activity Vehicle & marketed in India as The-No-Nonsense-Car; going by its name, it was a very practical car way ahead of its time, and was popular mostly among enthusiasts. Ford launched the

Ford Fiesta The Ford Fiesta is a supermini car marketed by Ford since 1976 over seven generations. Over the years, the Fiesta has mainly been developed and manufactured by Ford's European operations, and has been positioned below the Escort (later the ...

in its sedan guise which was widely received in the market and was a sales success. Ford also launched the

Ford Figo The Ford Figo is a subcompact hatchback manufactured by Ford India in its Chennai and Sanand plants. Based on the Mark V European Ford Fiesta hatchback, the Figo has been sold in emerging countries between March 2010 and 2021. First generation ...

, based on the sixth generation

hatchback in the Indian market. With the

Ford EcoSport The Ford EcoSport (pronounced ) is a subcompact crossover SUV (B-segment) manufactured by Ford. The first-generation model was developed and built in Brazil by Ford Brazil since 2003, at the Camaçari plant. The second-generation model was laun ...

crossover, Ford became one of the first companies to exploit the Indian government's policy of lower taxes for sub 4-metre automobiles. Ford also exports the EcoSport from India to EU and US markets. Ford then launched the second generation

, first in its sedan guise as the Ford Figo Aspire, which now remains Ford's only sedan in the Indian market after discontinuation of the sixth generation Ford Fiesta. The Figo hatchback was launched at a later date. To fill the gap between the Figo and the EcoSport, the company launched the Ford Freestyle in 2018; this is essentially a crossover version of the face-lifted Ford Figo hatchback. In 2019, the company started talks with

Mahindra & Mahindra Mahindra & Mahindra Limited (M&M) is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturing corporation headquartered in Mumbai. It was established in 1945 as Mahindra & Mohammed and later renamed as Mahindra & Mahindra. Part of the Mahindra Grou ...

to establish a new joint venture, but as of April 2021, those plans had been cancelled. In September 2021, the company announced its intent to end all domestic manufacturing in India. However, CBU units like the

Ford Mustang The Ford Mustang is a series of American automobiles manufactured by Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its sixth generation, it is the fifth-best selli ...

will still be imported to India. In December 2021 Mahindra's finance unit Kotak Mahindra purchased Ford Credit India's vehicle finance portfolio.

Manufacturing facilities

Ford India's main manufacturing plant located in

Maraimalai Nagar Maraimalai Nagar is a satellite town of Chennai, Chengalpattu district, Tamil Nadu, India. It is a municipality town in Chengalpattu district. It lies in the southern part of the Chennai metropolitan area around 50 km from downtown Chennai ...

, 45 km (28 Miles) from

has a capacity to produce 150,000 cars on a two-shift basis and 200,000 with three shifts. In 2010–11, the company's yearly production crossed the 100,000 mark. As its new hatchback Figo was launched in March 2010,

invested $500 million to double capacity of the plant to 200,000 vehicles annually and setting up a facility to make 250,000 engines annually. The engine plant opened for operations in January 2010. In 2012, the company invested a further $72 million to raise engine production capacity to 330,000 units. The company rolled out the

in June 2013 with a $142 million investment. With the Ford EcoSport, the Chennai plant will ramp up to a capacity of 200,000 units. As part of its plan to launch 8 new vehicles by 2015, the car maker announced an intended investment of $1 billion for a new state-of-the-art manufacturing plant at Sanand, Gujarat on a 460-acre site. Installed manufacturing capacity was announced at 270,000 engines and 240,000 vehicles a year. The plant commenced production in 2014. Once the plant was fully operational, Ford India estimated it would have a cumulative capacity to make 440,000 cars and 610,000 engines annually. In May 2022,

announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire a plant. In September 2021, the company announced it would cease production in India, citing growing losses and no sustainable path to profitability in the territory. But in February 2022, Ford decided to come back to India as an EV maker, although it later in May 2022 reversed this decision. After Ford's

plant was shut down, the workers union and Ford India negotiated for a severance package, in September 2022, Ford India presented its final severance package offer to the worker's union

Models

Discontinued

* Ford Escort (1996–2001) * Ford Ikon (1999–2011) *

Ford Mondeo The Ford Mondeo is a large family car manufactured by Ford since 1993. The first Ford model declared as a " world car", the Mondeo was intended to consolidate several Ford model lines worldwide (the European Sierra, the Telstar in Asia and Aus ...

(2001–2006) *

Ford Endeavour The Ford Everest is a mid-size SUV produced by Ford Motor Company since 2003. Developed and destined mainly for the Asia-Pacific region with production centered in Thailand, the first-generation Everest is based on the Mazda-based Ford Ranger pi ...

(2003–2021) * Ford Fusion (2004–2010) * Ford Fiesta Classic (2005–2015) *

(2010–2021) * Ford Fiesta (Global) (2011–2016) *

(2013–2021) * Ford Figo Aspire (2015–2021) *

(2016–2021) * Ford Freestyle (2018–2021)

Sales and service network

As of April 2016, Ford has more than 376 sales and service outlets in 209 cities across India.

Sales performance

In the year 2010, FIPL recorded sales of 83,887 vehicles against 29,488 vehicles sold during the year 2009 and registered a sales growth of 172%.

Exports

Ford India exported 40 percent of its engine production and 25 percent of its car production to 35 countries. Some of them are: United States, Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Nepal, Kenya, Bahrain, Angola, Bermuda, Ghana, Iraq, Liberia, Lebanon, Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, UAE, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Corporate social responsibility

Ford India's CSR activities are focused primarily in four key areas: road safety, education, healthcare, and environment.

References

External links

* {{Ford India Timeline Ford Motor Company Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1995 Car manufacturers of India Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 2021 Manufacturing companies based in Chennai Indian companies established in 1995 Indian subsidiaries of foreign companies 1995 establishments in Tamil Nadu Indian companies disestablished in 2020 Indian companies established in 1926 Indian companies disestablished in 1953