Sad day for all the car enthusiasts as Ford India has finally decided to cease the local production completely from today onwards. This decision has been taken keeping in mind the loss of around $2 billion over the last decade. Surprisingly, even the sales from the past few years were not up to the mark which ultimately led to this crisis.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Ford India has decided to stop the local manufacturing.
- No more EcoSport and Endeavour for the customers.
- Around 4000 employees are to be affected nationwide.
What about the current owners?
Well, Ford has decided to continue providing the after-sales service and parts in India. However, there’s no clarity regarding the resale value of these cars for now.
The American brand will also be offering expensive cars such as Mustang and Mach-E in India. Interestingly, both of them were already available as CBUs, therefore, it won’t be making much difference. The current lineup including Figo, Freestyle, Aspire, EcoSport and Endeavour will no more be a part of the Indian lineup. This way, the facelifted EcoSport that was spied testing multiple times is not coming here and stands discontinued with immediate effect.
The current inventory that has already been manufactured will be sold via the dealership. In fact, Ford will continue to provide warranty on such vehicles just like before.
What about the employees?
Around 4000 of them will be affected by this decision but the head of Indian operations has assured that they are working out solutions to figure out the best way possible on mutual terms. Other 500 employees from the Sanand engine plant and 100 of them working on the after-sales service will continue to be a part of the workforce.
According to Anurag Mehrotra, MD Ford India, this entire decision has been taken keeping in mind the “accumulated losses, persistent industry overcapacity and lack of expected growth in India’s carmaker.”
