Is Ford Considering A Comeback In India?

The Chennai plant, spread across an area of 350 acres with an annual capacity of 150,000 cars had stopped production in 2022.

Ford has cancelled its plan to sell its Chennai plant giving rise to speculation that the American carmaker may make a comeback in India

Source : Somnath Chatterjee

It has been three years since American carmaker, Ford started its exit operations from the Indian markets but the cancellation of its Chennai plant's sale has fuelled rumours that the company could be indeed mulling a comeback. Not only this as but the American carmaker recently also posted fresh job openings which adds to this.

Recently Ford cancelled its plan and could be looking at a future electric car production along with possibly starting CBU sales for its cars.

Ford cars have been popular in India and looking at the lucrative volumes that the Indian market produces, no doubt that coming back to India could be on Ford's mind now.

The Chennai plant, spread across an area of 350 acres with an annual capacity of 150,000 cars had stopped production in 2022.

If indeed Ford would be coming back, the question is with what cars? A few seem obvious and CBU operations could kickstart the re-entry for some loved brands within the Ford line-up like the new Endeavour. The latest generation Endeavour sold overseas has not been launched in India and as a CBU could make its way here.

The big SUV market is currently quite popular with the Fortuner from Toyota holding its majority market share. The re-entry of the Endeavour albeit in a pricier CBU form could bring back excitement for the Ford brand. Along with that Ford could also bring back the Mustang and the Ranger pick-up too.

The Endeavour in its CBU form could be much more expensive than the Fortuner but the brand name and the loyal fan following that this SUV has in India means that there would be enough takers. While we await more clarity on this, the news of Ford probably coming back here is good news for the Indian market.