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Rediff.com  » Business » Ford to launch new Mondeo in Jan

Ford to launch new Mondeo in Jan

By BS Bureau in Bangalore
November 10, 2004 14:24 IST
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Ford India will launch the new Ford Mondeo in January next. The company has already exhausted the CBU (completely built unit) stock pile of the previous version and is at the moment homologating (India customisation) the revamped Mondeo at its Chennai plant.

Vinay Piparsania, vice president sales and marketing Ford India said at the Ford Fusion launch in Bangalore, that the change comes close on the heels of the worldwide launch of the new Mondeo in September-October.

This model, intended as a replacement for the outgoing version, has already reached the Indian plant.

Also owing to the model transition there have been no Mondeo sales in the last two months. Mondeo, a luxury sedan has averaged just 5 to 10 units monthly sale since its launch in late 2001.

However, even post the introduction of the new version Ford is not nursing any high ambitions. Officials said at best the planned version can up sales marginally.

They added, there will be little or no change in the pricing, thanks to 120 per cent custom's duty on CBU imports. The earlier version was sold at Rs 16.30 lakh ex showroom.

Officials added that changes will be cosmetic and the new version will retain the power terrain -- a 2 litre 16V Duratec Petrol and a 2 litre 16V Direct Injection Turbo Diesel.

Ford's Mondeo, billed a world car, has seen a dissapointing run in India. While its peers like Toyota Camry have notched sales of 100 plus units a month, the Mondeo has stagnated at the 5 to 10. Also, Mondeo remains the only offering from Ford

India's stables to perform under par

Their flagship Ikon is slated to sell 27,000 units this year, while the SUV Endeavour has already sold over 2,000 since its December 2003 launch. In the last four months alone, more than 1000 Endeavours have been sold.

With Fusion (Priced at Rs 6.3 lakh and the premium Fusion+ at Rs 7.06 lakh in Bangalore), Ford targets 500 units a month initially, move up to 1,000 and then tweak production based on demand.

Along with Fusion, Ford also launched the Endeavour Hurricane Gear and the Ikon Anniversary, taking the 2004 new model/version launch to four.

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BS Bureau in Bangalore
 

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