According to reports in the media, Alan Roger Mulally, Ford Motor Company’s president and CEO is all set to arrive in the country to unveil its Indian arm’s small car on 23rd September’09.

This new small car, which has been codenamed Ford B517 is expected to be launched in March next year. To be built at its Chennai facility, it will come in petrol and diesel versions of capacities 1.2 litre and 1.5 litre respectively to satisfy the Indian government's definition of a small car, according to company officials. The proposed small car would have 85 per cent local content and is also in talks with Tata Steel for better steel prices with the increased volumes. It is to be mentioned that the company was earlier sourcing steel blankets - cut steel sheets from its sister plant in Thailand.

The company's vendor base has also broadened from 30 to 180 and according to Ford India’s senior official,the company policy is to have multiple vendors for most of the components and retain single vendors for certain critical items. The company has also increased automation in the factory by 30 per cent and has installed 92 robots in the facility that was previously in zero-automation mode. “The plan is to increase production to 330 units per shift by next year, compared to the present 150 per day. In this way, we can double the installed capacity by 100,000 units per year,” a senior official of Ford India said, adding that the engine manufacturing facility will start operations next year. On the small car, he said the company would focus on domestic markets before starting to export in various markets.

Talking about the company’s ongoing investment plans (spanning over three years),Ford India’s prez and MD, Michael Boneham told reporters that nearly 70 per cent of the proposed US$ 500 million (around Rs. 2,000 crore) investment has been utilised for expansion of its manufacturing capacity at its Chennai facility, where it is also building of an integrated diesel engine manufacturing facility and also on new product development, including a small car for the Indian car market. It has increased the plant footprint to 353 acres from 250 acres and introduced a 30-acre supplier park to house automotive components and parts.

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