Ford commences Figo exports

Ford India kickstarts shipping out its all-new hatchback, the Figo. The car will be shipped to South Africa from Ford’s Maraimalai Nagar plant in Chennai. The company has also started exporting the diesel and petrol engines to Thailand.

"We have recently started exporting diesel and petrol engines to Thailand. The monthly demand there is around 3,000 units,” says Michael Boneham, president and MD, Ford India.

However, he did not comment on the future volumes as he deemed it would be difficult for him to comment a it depends on the demand in the Thailand market as well as other markets the Thailand plant serves.

Ford will start a second shift at its Maraimalai Nagar plant in order to meet the demands for the Figo as it has received good response from the consumers. With the additional shift, the production capacity is expected to go up to 1.40lakh units, thereby bringing down the waiting time for the Figo. According to Boneham, Ford has booked orders for around 21,000 Figos and has managed to deliver around 16,000 units till date.

Ford is anticipating the Figo to be a game changer for the company and so to market its car better; Ford is aggressively entering the Tier-II and Tier- III cities and has ramped up its dealership network to164 facilities, a growth of over 40%. Ford is also exploring newer foreign markets where it could possibly launch its hot hatch.