The jointly developed products from Mahindra and Ford will have their unique identities despite sharing platform and technology
According to a recent report emerged on the internet, Mahindra & Ford’s joint venture won’t be involved in cross badging of vehicles in the Indian market. Pawan Goenka, Managing Director at M&M, told Economic Times that the badge-engineering will become a “gimmicky thing”.
He further explained that the upcoming vehicles from both brands would be “totally independent”. As we previously informed, Mahindra and Ford will share common platform, sourcing, technology and other internals but each of their respective products will have unique identity pertaining to their own DNA.
The sharing of architecture will result in an estimated saving of more than 200 million USD (Rs. 1,421 crore) over the next two or three years. The joint venture, announced a couple of months ago, is valued at 275 million USD and it will come into effect from the middle of next year.
The joint venture will be operated by Mahindra and the governing board will comprise of representatives from both the brands. Ford will transfer its local operations including plants in Chennai and Sanand to the JV but the Dearborn-based company will retain its engine facility in Sanand as well as Ford Credit, Ford Smart Mobility and Global Business Services unit.
In the JV, Mahindra owns 51 per cent controlling stake while the remaining 49 per cent is for the American manufacturer. In the international markets, the Blue Oval appears to be considering the use of Mahindra’s products and rebadge them as part of expanding into the emerging market vertical.
Over the years, the badge-engineered products have found decent successes in India, as Vento/Rapid and Duster/Terrano are prime examples. However, customer preferences are ever-shifting in recent times due to the technological advancements being faced by the automotive industry.
Mahindra has big plans for launching new UVs and the partnership carries plenty of significance in accelerating their rollout. A C-segment Ford SUV based on next-gen Mahindra XUV500’s platform is already in the works while a mid-size Mahindra SUV based on Ford’s B-platform is in final stages of approval as well.