New Ford Endeavour Design Patented, India Comeback Or Export Only?

The chances of Ford fancying the export of the new Endeavour from the 350-acre plant in Tamil Nadu do exist but no official confirmation made on anything yet

Ford’s exit from India in September 2021 was part of the global restructuring process and also that the American auto major recorded huge losses locally as it could not utilise its production plants to full extent. In August 2022, Ford sold its Sanand plant to Tata Motors and a while later, severance package for employees at Maraimalai Nagar plant in Tamil Nadu was announced.

While many top OEMs showed interest in acquiring the plant near Chennai, JSW Group came the closest to sealing a deal but it ultimately fell through. JSW owns 35 per cent stakes under a JV with SAIC in MG Motor and thus purchasing Ford’s plant for an estimated 100 million USD made all the sense but it did not come to fruition.

It sparked the rumour that Ford is evaluating a return and sketching a comeback plan to India and more job openings at the plant further exacerbated the speculation. Now, the Detroit-based manufacturer has applied for the design patent of the third generation Endeavour, which made its global debut in March 2022 as the Everest globally.

In India, the Ford Endeavour has a great fanfare and it competed directly with the Toyota Fortuner for years and it was assembled at the Chennai plant. Following the exit announcement, attempts to continue its production in the country through contractual basis did not materialise either. It is yet unknown whether Ford will be back in India or not.

But the chances of Ford fancying the export of the new Endeavour from the 350-acre plant in Tamil Nadu, which has a production capacity of 1.5 lakh cars and 3.4 lakh engines per year, do exist. In a similar fashion, General Motors continued to ship cars to international markets from Halol plant in Gujarat till late 2020 despite quitting sales in the domestic market in 2017.

Compared to the Endeavour on sale in India, the third-gen boasts advanced assistive and safety features, a more premium cabin with the inclusion of features list a 12-inch touchscreen and an all-digital cluster, etc while the design is heavily inspired by the F-150 pickup.