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Our Bureau

Coimbatore , Feb. 27

FORD India, which launched its sports utility vehicle (SUV) Endeavour late last year, has been able to sell all its SUV units, but it is too early to assess the market demand since the SUV segment is still evolving in India, according to a senior executive of Ford India.

He said the company would stick to its goal of introducing one new model every year, but declined to indicate the market segment the company is targeting in the immediate future. The Indian automotive market seems to be firing on all cylinders and "is growing like never before," he added.

Speaking to presspersons here on Friday on the occasion of `The Great Ford Drive' event to be held on February 28 and 29, Mr Santosh Nair, General Manager, Marketing, Ford India, said the company at present had its presence in three market segments — the `C' segment with its Ford Ikon variants, the `D' segment with the luxury car Ford Mondeo, and the SUV segment with Endeavour.

Mr Santosh Nair said the SUV segment was growing at a fast clip and expected it to stabilise in the next few months. Ford was manufacturing around 150 units of its SUV every month. The company's plant at Maraimalai Nagar near Chennai was an integrated plant with a flexible production capability to meet the market requirements for specific models.

The other players in the SUV segment were Honda, Hyundai and Maruti Suzuki. He said that till a year back, this SUV segment did not exist in the domestic automobile market, but today it witnessed a sale of about 300 units a month.

When asked whether the company was planning to enter the `B' segment (in the Rs 4.50-lakh price range), Mr Santosh Nair said, "we don't divulge future product plans' buy." While he confirmed that the company would come out with a new launch in 2004, when asked at what market segment it would be aimed at, he said, "we are not yet ready to reveal that."

On whether the company was contemplating any fresh investment (Ford India has invested about Rs 1,700 crore in its Maraimalai Nagar plant), Mr Santosh Nair said there was no need right now and it was a full-fledged plant. He felt the `C' segment (sedan) in which the Ford Ikon was placed was growing at a faster pace than the `B' segment and the industry has been witnessing an "exciting growth phase."

Replying to a question as to whether Ford India would be content with catering to the domestic markets or would be part of Ford's game plan for the global markets, he said the company was already supplying the Ikon model in many foreign markets such as South America and South Africa. Out of around 40,000 units of Ford Ikon produced in India, nearly 18,500 were sold within the country while the rest were exported.

He said `The Great Ford Drive' event being organised here would provide an opportunity for the car lovers to test the Ford vehicles on specially designed test tracks.

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