Ford Motor Company's newly appointed CEO Mr. Mark Fields who took over the proceedings from Mr. Allan Mullaly on July 1, was on a market review visit to India in the month of June. During his visit, Mr. Fields held a meeting with the Indian PM Mr. Narendra Modi and the former updated the latter on the progress of Ford's upcoming plant in Sanand, Gujarat.
Economic Times reports that during the meeting, Mr. Modi urged the Ford CEO to put the Sanand plant in the global manufacturing map by adding more export markets. The USD 1 billion plant is expected to go on stream on the 1st of April 2015 and expand Ford India's manufacturing capacity by more than two folds.
Flat out, the plant would have an annual production capacity of 2.5 lakh units while the initial production capacity is expected to be around 1.4-1.5 lakh units (800-900 units per day) in 2015, ET has reported.
The Sanand plant was commissioned in 2012 when Mr. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat. In the first year, the facility would roll out the next gen Ford Figo hatchback and the new Figo sub-4 metre sedan (unveiled as Ford Ka and Ka+ in Brazil) that is touted to replace the Ford Classic.
With the 'One Ford' global product strategy in place, Ford India is planning to expand its export markets from the current 50 to around 100 - 120 in due course. The Sanand plant is expected to contribute the lion's share of Ford India's export operations.
[Source: Economic Times]
