Ford India has reportedly contacted six carmakers to either make a deal on contract manufacturing or sell one of its production facilities
Ford India was recently said to be looking for partners to utilise its manufacturing facilities as it was reportedly exploring opportunities in contract manufacturing with other car manufacturers. A new report indicates that the American auto major has reached out to at least six companies to keep the ball rolling in its domestic operations.
A couple of months ago, speculations surfaced on the interweb noted that Ford would decide on its investment plans for India in the second half of this calendar year. Ford’s Senior Executive Steven Armstrong was supposedly assigned to the duties involved in evaluating investment plans for the local market as he was believed to speed up the process of capital allotments.
Not too long ago, the proposed joint venture between Ford and Mahindra fell through and so were the intended investment plans and the products in the pipeline. It appears to be a major blow for the Blue Oval, which has sought companies like Skoda Auto Volkswagen India, Hyundai Motor, Tata Motors, SAIC Motor Corp, MG Motor, and Chongqing Changan Automobile Company.
The list goes on as some startup electric vehicle brands have also been approached including Ola Electric. Ford looks to have convened with them to discuss on contract manufacturing opportunities or even the sales of some part of its manufacturing operations. The report comes on the back of Ford introducing petrol automatic version of the Figo recently.
In addition, the facelifted version of the EcoSport compact SUV has also been spotted testing quite a few times with changes mainly concentrated on the front fascia. However, we have seen manufacturers making abrupt decisions in India in the past. Ford is reportedly looking to meet the mid-term target of 8 per cent EBIT margin by 2023 as announced by CEO, Jim Farley.
The report further claims that Ford will shut or sell one of its production units as its domestic sales and export numbers have fallen in recent times. Ford may close both its factories and turn the India operations into a niche unit and thus only CKD Endeavour, Ranger and Mustang could be offered in the future according to the report.
A decision will likely happen in two months’ time and it would decide the future of more than 16,000 personnel onboard.