Ford Figo is designed to compete in the small-car segment in India. India is a huge market of small cars, more than 70 percent of new-car. First lot of production was driven off an assembly line last week of February at a plant in Chennai, India. Ford is investing more than $500 million to double the annual production to 200,000 units.
India is a fast growing car market in the world & its major part in small cars which is dominated by SUZUKI. SUZUKI’s market share is more then 50% in total car market in India.
“We’re confident that the new Ford Figo will be extremely attractive to Indian buyers,” Raj Nair, Ford vice president of operations, said in a statement. “This car is set to transform Ford from a niche player in India to vehicle for the masses.”
Joseph Hinrichs was recently appointed as the company’s president for Asia-Pacific and Africa, and Michael Boneham, president and managing director of Ford India Pvt. Ltd.
Hinrichs said, “The Figo launch is a culmination of years of work, from Indian engineers to our manufacturing team in Chennai. The opportunity that we have for Ford in India is a special one as the Indian auto market will continue to grow and we intend to grow with it.”
Boneham said, “South Africa will be the first export market for the Figo. (It is) very important that the investments that we’ve made for the Indian market allow us to build the Figo product for India as well as export it.”
Boneham also said, “Obviously 70% of vehicles sold are in the sub-B segment as we call it (small cars costing below Rs5 lakh) and Joe (Hinrichs) is challenging the team consistently to make sure we get our fair share of the segment. But it doesn’t mean we’re not going to look at other segments.”
India is Asia’s third biggest car market which continue breaking records sales in February, driven by low-interest loans, apprehensions of price hikes in the following month and also by launches of more hatchback compact cars.
Figo’s gasoline version is priced Rs. 349,900 to Rs. 442,900, while the diesel variant will be available in the Rs. 447,900 to Rs. 529,900 range.
“This is the right product and at the right price point for Ford,” said Mr. Boneham. “We are not in the business to lose money. You can get profits of scale and you can also compete in a very price-sensitive environment.”
The players in Indian car market are Tata Motors Ltd. sells its Nano minicar & Indica, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. sells the wagon-R, Zen, Alto and 800, Hyundai sells the Santro & chevrolet sells the Sparks & Beat, successfully in Indian market.