Ford axes compact cars for Indian Market as the American automaker switches focus on SUVs and crossovers for sustained growth
Ford Motors has shelved its compact car program for the emerging markets like India and China, caused by disappointing sales of mainstream models. Instead the company plans to tweak the outgoing compact models and also it focuses on the SUVs and crossovers, which are proven to be significantly popular in the emerging markets.
In India Ford launched the new generation Figo hatchback, which has garnered appreciation with its new design and exciting features. The sedan sibling of the Figo, the Ford Aspire also comes garnering popularity, and the Ford EcoSport is one of the most popular compact SUVs in the Indian market. Walking Ford’s path general Motors also dropped the plan to launch a compact car family in India worth investment of $5 billion.
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Though the outgoing models are about to receive an overhaul, but dropping the compact car program means, India lost a significant amount of investment. Instead of investing on all new models the American auto manufacturer company Ford Motors has invested $2 billion in India to upgrade its Chennai plant, which will help to tweak the existing models as per customer needs.
Ford Motors manufacture cars for both the Indian domestic market and overseas market in its Chennai plant, and in its new strategy the company is planning to boost its export business as well. The company indicates that, that it will slowly shift its focus from the hatchbacks and sedans in the country. Incidentally, the compact car market in India is ruled by the automakers like Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai.
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The popularity of tough SUVs and crossovers are increasing all around the world for quite some time. Indian market too isn’t different than the trend, and that is why the American auto manufacturer plans to focus on the popular segments, as the company sees much growth potential in the large vehicle segment.