Car maker Ford India is planning to re-enter the used car segment by relaunching its Ford Assured programme.
Launched in 2000, Ford Assured was an initiative to buy and sell used cars, in which Ford India, along with its dealerships, bought, reconditioned and sold various models of used cars.
“We are doing a market research on the used car space and would relaunch Ford Assured concept within this calendar year,” Ford India Vice President (Sales) Timothy D Tucker told Business Standard.
Ford Assured was a partnership between Ford and the dealerships, but was discontinued after a couple of years due to poor response from the market.
“The Indian used car market is big and is now almost equal to the new car sales,” he said adding the company could not afford to ignore the segment.
Ford India was the first car maker to introduce standardised business processes in the used car market, dealing with a variety of cars by different manufacturers, Tucker added.
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He was in town to launch Ford’s new compact car, Figo in the Uttar Pradesh market. It is available in 4 models LXI, EXI, ZXI and Titanium, both in petrol and diesel variants.
The entry level Figo LXI in petrol and diesel variants carry price tags (ex-showroom Lucknow) of Rs 3.56 lakh and Rs 4.55 lakh respectively, while the top end Titanium is priced at Rs 4.5 lakh and Rs 5.39 lakh respectively.
Ford India will open 28 new dealerships in India to bring total Ford outlets to 164 in 97 cities over the next couple of years.
Figo is being manufactured at Ford’s unit in Chennai and the vehicle has a waiting list of almost four weeks, at present. Figo is being produced with 85 per cent localisation.
“After ramping up our production, we will export Figo, mainly to South Africa. Besides, we will export Figo engines to other car makers,” he informed.