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Ford India, the indian arm of the Blue Oval as Ford started their innings with the Josh machine ala the Ford Ikon.
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Ford bets big on small car!

Sopan Sharma 23 Sep 2009

Ford_plant_main

The Blue Oval's 500-million-dollar investment to ramp up its Chennai plant in anticipation of the high volumes it plans to achieve for its soon-to-be-launched small car. ZigWheels surveys...

Ford's tryst with India has been a long and lukewarm one, neither greeted with stupendous success nor catastrophic failures. A long and sustained stint in the country however has given Ford enough understanding of the way our seemingly bewildering automotive market works. Cost price is king, and small cars mean big volumes. After the fair selling Ikon Flair and piggyback picking-up sales of the Fiesta, Ford is now planning to enter the cut-throat Indian small car space. And from the looks of it, it could be more than well equipped to deliver a surprise.

Ford_plant_1

The company's manufacturing facility near Chennai is ramping up in an aggressive manner to double its current capacity to 2 lakh units annually. While it is being expected that a majority of this produce will be la


User's Comments
  • shandi (01 March 2010 22:50)
    yeah i agree, we also encountered to replace the combination switch in our ford fiesta because we had to remove the steering wheel to get it. its so hard to do that and its parts also give us problem. so i think we need new ford model..lol! | Reply
  • Pradip (01 February 2010 18:34)
    I had used Ford Ikon since its launch for 8.5 years | Reply
 Shankar singha (21 February 2010 09:31) Reply to Pradip
I Shankar Singha from Kolkatta used the josh machine was one of the first lot buyers of Ikon 1.8 zxi and till today this is my favourite though its maintainence is a bit high but overall performance and tourqe is great.My son styding just beside Fords chennai plant in SRM univesity always tell me "Papa dont sell the car". | Reply
  • Ford Figo (27 January 2010 16:27)
    Get all your queries on the new Ford Figo answered on the official Ford India blog for Ford Figo at http://www.drivingford.in | Reply
 sangmesh (05 April 2010 01:05) Reply to Ford Figo
my problem of the car, the pick up was not good on my first test drive, i am not aware whether the speed was looked or it takes lot of time to gain speed on pushing the accelerator. also child safety features for the doors in the LXI model. I could not get suitable answers from the technician at the showroom pls do reply my concern | Reply
 vijay m jain (18 March 2010 10:17) Reply to Ford Figo
ford fiesta,s auto parts were to costly than maruti suzuki. what about figo,s parts cost we realy interested to buy this car. | Reply
  • Stark (05 October 2009 00:08)
    I own A Ford Fiesta and I have a major issue with the car's maintenance. It worked fine till 50,000 but its parts have started to give me pain. I don't think any Ford car can sell like Wagon R or i10 or Santro with this kind of maintenance problems. This is a big step for Ford. With Figo, Ford is entering the heart of Indian automobile market. It will need to be extra cautious while doing this. It will be nice to see how Figo performs on the sales charts. | Reply
  • Z (02 October 2009 21:50)
    The Ford Focus is a good car I'd like to see on Indian roads,just like the Honda Jazz.Hope to see the Focus in India soon. | Reply
  • F A Syed (28 September 2009 03:00)
    The Eurpeon Ford Fiesta and Ford Ka are two masterpieces in design and they both are small cars. I would have loved see them in India aswell. Atleast in the photos released so far Figo to certain extent looks to be relaunch of not so successful Fusion in a new avatar. | Reply
  • Sunil Datta (26 September 2009 23:28)
    Ford's new car has simmilar looks as that of Fusion. I only wish that Ford marketing team does not give the new Figo step motherly treatment as it has done with Fusion. Due to poor marketing and no proper display And advertisement the Fusion failed. I only pitty the people who chose Fusion as general public hardly knows abou this superb SUV. | Reply
  • prem (25 September 2009 15:56)
    looks wise it is the mixture of ford fusion and ford fiesta ,we need to look at the price and the performance part . | Reply
  • sumiiet (24 September 2009 11:41)
    yup the looks might be on the lines of fusion which didn't go well in market . but it would have been great if ford had considered an all new look for their new venture. personally i would be wating to for car on the performance note . for which is known for | Reply
  • sundaram sridharan (24 September 2009 10:17)
    ford may be correct this time. yes the looks are similar to fusion in a smaller version. should suit the indian market. pricing and the engine options will be the decider | Reply
  • anisc (23 September 2009 23:27)
    While competitors are rolling out their latest models, Ford has decided to launch a car based on the aging and old Fusion platform. This is a regressive strategy. Its sad that Ford has not considered to launch a brand new small car with the latest design as it does in Europe. Personally I would have loved to see tha Ka. | Reply
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