New Delhi: Ford Motor Company, one of the first global carmakers to enter the Indian market following the liberalisation that began in 1991, has decided to end manufacturing operations in the country.
The American company said it had accumulated losses of over $ 2 billion in the last 10 years, and that the phased closure of its two production units in Sanand, Gujarat, and Chennai, Tamil Nadu, would affect approximately 4,000 employees.
“Despite (our) efforts, we have not been able to find a sustainable path forward to long-term profitability,” Ford India head Anurag Mehrotra said in the statement.
The company announced that it will cease manufacturing in both plants — it will wind down manufacturing of vehicles for export at Sanand plant by Q4 2021 and in Chennai, its engine/vehicle assembly plants will be wound down by Q2 2022. It announced that it will continue manufacturing engines for export. With this restructure, Ford will focus on importing and selling vehicles such as the Mustang Coupe and Mustang Mach-E in India.
For customers, it said that full customer operations will continue with service, aftermarket parts and warranty support. For the cars it currently sells, the company said it will continue to do so till stocks last. “Sales of current products such as Figo, Aspire, Freestyle, EcoSport and Endeavour will cease once existing dealer inventories are sold,” it said.
“With more than 11,000 team members currently in India, Ford Business Solutions plans to expand to provide more opportunities for software developers, data scientists, R&D engineers, and finance and accounting professionals, in support of the Ford+ plan to transform and modernize Ford globally,” Ford said.
Ford India said it will maintain parts depots in Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Sanand and Kolkata and work with its dealer network to restructure and transition from sales and service to parts and service support. It added that it will also continue to rely on India-based suppliers for parts for its global products.
