Ford has scored a great win with its hybrid Compact SUV in its home markets as the Ford Escape in October and November ( head over to advantages.us to check out today’s Auto sales announcements in the US ) Its market share in December, likely to cross 15% with more than 171,000 in sales. It has planned to expand Indian capacity with a similar compact SUV here titled the Ford EcoSport ( WSJ India )
Ford has planned a second factory in Sanand in Gujarat ( next to the Nano plant) for a cost of $660 mln ( INR 40 bln) and is upgrading its Diesel Engines capacity in Chennai by 33% to 330,000 for another $72 mln, while it has a current capacity of 200,000 petrol units in Figo, Fiesta and its Endeavour SUV specification
The Indian hybrid targets its earlier JV partner in India M&M which has bought a SUV company in Korea and could well face immediate competition from GM which has started doing better than Ford in India as also VW which is almost caught up without support from Suzuki the hybrid SUV is planned for $142 mln at current exchange prices. Ford will likely spend much lesser dollars on this project if it is indeed enacted thru 2012
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Related articles
- A clean sweep for the home boys – 2011 US Auto Sales report
- Ford EcoSport A Fiesta-Based CUV For Slumdog Thousandaires [Ford Ecosport] (jalopnik.com)
- Ford’s Tasty Indian Treat (foxnews.com)
- Car-boom! Ford to sell SUVs in India (junkscience.com)
- India Auto Sales Report (December 2011) (awardz.wordpress.com)
- Ford rolls out Asia plans from India (awardz.wordpress.com)

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