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Ford India is confident on the Indian passenger car market, saying it would go ahead with its plan to launch eight cars. The company is working on reducing the waiting period for the EcoSport, its compact sports utility vehicle.
Nigel Harris, who took charge as president of Ford India last month, said India was going through a temporary setback, as there was a sense of hesitation among customers. “We are not changing our plan. We are working hard to give value for money, which the Indian customer always wants,” Harris said, adding at about seven million units, India was expected to become the third-largest car market by 2020, after the US and China.
The company hopes to see growth in the sector after the coming Lok Sabha elections. It said its Gujarat plant would be ready by the end of this year and the facility was expected to roll out its first product in early 2015.
Harris said Ford India was trying to ramp up production to meet the demand for the EcoSport. He added the company had asked its suppliers to increase capacity. “Currently, the waiting time for the EcoSport is three-six months; we are identifying customers who are waiting for a long time and giving them priority,” he said. So far, the company has recorded 60,000 orders for the EcoSport and delivered 40,000.
Harris said globally, Ford adopted a conservative approach, as it had seen over-capacity in 2008, 2009 and 2010. While emerging markets saw high growth, when growth fell in these regions, the drop wasn’t significant, he added.
