The Hindu Business Line : Ford to source small car engines from Chennai plant

New Delhi, Feb. 19 Ford India’s engine facility in Chennai would cater to the company’s global small car range in Europe and North America, besides serving the domestic market.

“The engine size could be between 1-1.6-2 litre to cater to our small cars. We have yet to finalise our export markets. But it would be closer to home like North America or Europe,” said Mr Scott McCormack, Vice-President, Sales and Marketing, Ford India, at the sidelines of the launch of a new four wheel drive Ford Endeavour Thunder + priced at Rs 17.32 lakh.

Expansion

Ford recently announced an investment of $500 million to double its capacity to 2 lakh units and an engine manufacturing facility at Chennai that would produce 2.5 lakh units. This would include both petrol and diesel engines for the domestic and the export markets.

Sourcing to stay

Ford India said that despite the company starting its own engine production unit, it would not stop sourcing from Avtec, a CK Birla Group company. “We will continue to buy engines from Avtec. But we will also produce on our own,” said Mr McCormack. However, he refused to divulge the production ratio for the domestic market and exports.

The company’s new Endeavour is equipped with a 3-litre engine as compared to the earlier version that had a 2.5-litre TDCi engine and priced in the range of Rs 14.99-15.9 lakh.

Last month, the company’s sales reported 43 per cent decrease at 2,613 units and cumulative April-Jan 2007-08 it registered a decline of 13 per cent.

Ford India sold around 40,000 units last year.

The company declined to give any estimates for the current year, but said that realigning and refreshing the product portfolio could change its sales.

Budget Wish

With regard to the budget, Mr McCormack said that he expected the Government to do away with the differential excise and non-uniform taxation system of automobiles and bring down the import duty on capital goods.

More Stories on : Automobile Components | Outlook | Cars

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page