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Ford not to launch global brands in India

The Ford Motor Company of the United States is not in favour of introducing some of its leading acquired automobile brands like Volvo, Jaguar and Mazda in the Indian market, according to Henry D G Wallace, group vice-president, Asia Pacific operations.

"India does not figure in the list of countries where we intend to introduce models from these acquired marquees. Although we constantly keep exploring new products for the Indian marketplace, Volvo, Jaguar and Mazda do not figure in the list of models," Wallace said

Emphasising that Ford has no plans to hike its stake in Japanese car-maker Mazda, where it holds 34 per cent of the equity, Wallace said, "Mazda already has a presence in India with its light transport vehicles... That's where it will concentrate on for the present. There are no plans to bring its passenger vehicles to India."

On Volvo's car business, which Ford recently purchased from the Swedish truck major, Wallace said details of the buy-out are still being worked out. Though details about the arrangement are not available, there is no likelihood of any Volvo car models being rolled on to the Indian roads in the near future, he said.

"The merger is basically to strengthen Ford's position in the European markets and is not likely to reflect on the Indian market," Wallace said. Ford agreed to purchase Volvo's car division for $6.45 billion.

He further stated that most of the brands purchased by Ford are in the luxury segment, and India does not offer an attractive market for these cars.

But the company is going ahead full steam with its next offering for the Indian roads, code-named C-195, which will hit the country's streets in November this year.

The US auto major's Indian subsidiary plans to sell 25,000 units of its forthcoming model in the first year of launch and intends to commence exports of fully built vehicles within 18 months. It has already shortlisted Latin America as one of its export destinations.

The new model will be "small on the outside and big on the inside" and will be "reasonably priced to be affordable to more customers".

Wallace said Ford has made an outlay of up to $1.5 billion to invest in new facilities in the Asia-Pacific region. Some of this outlay has already been spent and the rest is in the pipeline, he said.

Ford is selling 350,000 cars per annum in the region and hopes to sell a million cars a few years from now, he added.

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