The Hindu Business Line : Ford expects car market to grow 18 pc in 2004

FORD expects the auto industry to beat its own forecast for the domestic passenger car market for the calendar year with a growth of around 18 per cent and sales of around 8.5 lakh units.

Mr Vinay K. Piparsania, Vice-President (Marketing), Ford India, told Business Line that the industry had forecast that in 2004, the passenger cars would grow 12-15 per cent. "But the current trends indicate that the sector would grow around 18 per cent," he said.

Ford itself is expected to grow between 25 per cent and 30 per cent during 2004. Mr Piparsania said that the company sold around 18,500 Ikons in 2003 in the domestic market, with exports expected to be around 24,000 units.

The company recently added 700 employees to the existing strength of 600 to support the growing volumes and introduction of new models.

During the first seven months of the current calendar year, Ford sold a total of 14,000 Ikons, posting a growth of 52 per cent over the same period last year. The total capacity of the plant is around 100,000 units per year.

Ford expects to cross Rs 1,000 crore in revenues during the year. "We are on course to achieving net profit by early next year or even before that," said Mr Piparsania. He added that the cost of ownership of a Ford car had come down over a period of time. According to Mr Piparsania, the company has sold over 1.9 lakh Ikons (including exports) during the last five years.

The fifth anniversary edition - the Rs 5-lakh Ikon - is expected to sell around 500 units per month.