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Business Standard has further learnt from industry sources that Ford has indicated an annual volume target of almost 300,000 units to local suppliers for both the new Figo hatch and Aspire sedan twins over the next few years. This translates to production of 25,000 units a month, a bulk of which will be headed for exports. For a quick reference, the Dzire, which is among the top-three selling cars at home, does about 18,000 units a month.
"For the new Figo, or Ka as it will be known in Europe, there are only two global production bases, India and Brazil. India will take care of most export markets like Europe and South Africa," a source close to the development said.
Fresh from the success of the EcoSport compact SUV, the two Figo models will be the key pillar of Ford's India strategy in the mid-term. Besides Aspire, the company is also believed to have considered several other names for the compact sedan, such as Advante, Ambition, Invento and GenS.
"The compact sedan is one of the fastest growing segments with several new products being launched in the past few months. This will help Ford to boost numbers, especially because the Figo has already been a successful brand," said Rachit Hirani, industry expert and founder of MotorOctane.com.
The compact (sub four metre) sedan segment, which was started by the Tata Indigo CS in 2008, saw the entry of the Hyundai Xcent and Tata Zest in the past year. While both products have done reasonably well on monthly sales of about 3,000-4,000 units, the Maruti Dzire remains the leader followed by the Honda Amaze (6,000/month). Besides Ford, other carmakers eyeing the segment includes Volkswagen, Renault and Nissan.
Ford India did not comment on detailed emailed queries.
