Ford has 8 new cars for India

Ford Motor Co. has announced eight new vehicles in India. According to the company, 70 per cent of its growth would come from Asian markets especially China and India. The company is doing well with its hatchback model Ford Figo in the Indian market and says that the new cars would be in the compact car segment, which sees the highest volumes. And it is currently ruled by indigenous car maker Maruti Suzuki with about 50 per cent of the total market share in its pocket. Joe Hinrichs, president of Ford Asia Pacific and Africa, said in an interview, “We believe the Indian market at the end of the decade will be the third largest auto market in the world behind China and the US.”

The company plans on having a number of products for a broader showroom appeal. The company officials pointed out in an interview that Indian middle class in major cities is now able to buy cars. This puts India in a spot where it becomes a vastly lucrative market for global carmakers. Ford launched Figo in March and in the first 25 weeks, Ford sold over 30,000 Figos. The Ford Figo is currently facing a backlog and the company had to double its production to 200,000 units in July at its factory in India's southern auto hub of Chennai, where it also has an engine plant.The successful hatchback from Ford was responsible for starting a sort of price war in the hatchback segment. The car comes in both the petrol and diesel version. The 1.2L petrol engine is capable of producing 71PS of maximum power and 102 Nm of peak torque while the 1.4L, Duratorq diesel engine that currently powers Ford Ikon and Ford Fiesta produces 69PS of maximum power and 160 Nm of top torque. The car is available in four variants in both petrol and diesel engine – Lxi, Exi, Zxi and Titanium. Thus the total variants for diesel and petrol are 8.

Ford is also in the process of starting to export Ford Figo to several new markets. The company began exporting the Figo to South Africa in May and would be exporting the car to 50 new markets – Mexico, North Africa and the Middle East. But Ford has no immediate plans to export from India to the US or Europe.