Ford India, the Indian arm of the world's second-largest auto manufacturer, has achieved cash break-even for the first time since it entered India six years ago.
The company's cash surplus has come on the back of a 270 per cent increase in exports. Ford India has emerged as the largest exporter of passenger cars in the country, with a volume of 11,632 units during the first five months of this fiscal.
David Friedman, the new managing director and president of Ford India said, "We have achieved cash break-even and are cash-positive now. All our new investments over the next few years will be towards development of new products, rather than for creating additional capacity."
However, he declined to specify on the profits expected. Ford has invested around Rs 1,600 crore on its plant at Maramalai Nagar, near Chennai.
The company, which currently offers a lone model -- Ford Ikon -- in the C segment (cars priced between Rs 5-10 lakhs) has sold around 17,700 units in the first five months of the current fiscal, against 7,906 units in the same period last year. However, the company's domestic sales have dropped 23.3 per cent during the same period, to 6,063 units.
"Although our domestic sales have declined, our market share has inched up to 24 per cent from around 22 per cent last year," Randy Shockley, vice president (sales & service) of Ford India said.
Meanwhile, the company has confirmed its participation in the Auto Show at Pragati Maidan in January 2002. Without revealing any information on which new models will specifically be displayed, Friedman said, "It would be a good opportunity for us to display some future models from Ford India." He, however, hinted that the company may not showcase any of its other global brands at the auto show. Jaguar, Aston Martin, Lincoln, Volvo, Land Rover and Mercury are some of the popular brands owned by Ford.
