Ford India to focus on ownership cost

For a company that has been around for two decades in India, Ford still remains a marginal player with a three per cent market share. Despite having two plants and investments in excess of $2 billion, its domestic sales still lag exports.

However, things seems to be looking up for Ford thanks to its recent three-pronged plan under growth 2.0 strategy. Anurag Mehrotra, Executive Director, Marketing, Sales and Service, believes that with greater transparency and innovative services, Ford cars are no longer perceived as expensive.

This is largely due to the tremendous efforts in service where people can access the website to figure out the exact costs of routine repairs and maintenance even before they walk into a dealership.

Ford has been working on improving the overall value and cost of ownership across its product portfolio.

“With over 800 sub-assembly levels of parts, we have broken big assemblies into sub-components, which has resulted in substantial savings for customers,” says Mehrotra.

Safety is another area of focus and Ford’s entire portfolio in India comes with features such as anti-lock braking system, electronic brakeforce distribution, side & curtain airbags as well as a knee airbag to keep vehicle occupants safe. It has also launched campaigns to sensitise car buyers on the importance of safety.

“Today, we are the only manufacturer to provide up to seven airbags in some of our vehicles,” says Mehrotra. “Besides, there is a lot of technology, which is going to make them even safer like Sync and MyKey.” The Ford Aspire compact sedan, which comes with double airbags as standard, scored three stars for adult occupant protection and two stars for child protection, in Global NCAP’s crash tests earlier this year.

Thanks to Growth 2.0 strategy, Ford’s domestic sales grew by 17 per cent in 2016-17. “We are confident of continuing the momentum in the year ahead,” says Mehrotra. The EcoSport has carved a niche for itself in the compact SUV space and has been a key growth engine. Ford is the fifth largest player in SUVs with a 7.2 per cent share.

Yet, there is still some way to go given that the company’s domestic tally of 86,460 units in 2016 is still lower than its 2011 output of 96,270 units, its highest to date. It has capacity of near five lakh units at its Chennai and Gujarat plants where exports have been the bigger success story.

Ford would ideally like to set the balance right in favour of higher domestic numbers, though this is easier said than done in this intensely competitive market where Maruti and Hyundai are going flat out.

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