Ford on Friday said it has submitted a Letter of Intent (LOI) to the Government of Tamil Nadu outlining the company’s intention to utilise its Chennai plant for manufacturing for export.
“The decision follows multiple meetings with the Tamil Nadu Government, including one I had last week with the Honorable Chief Minister of the Government of Tamil Nadu as part of his visit to the United States. We appreciate their ongoing support as we have explored different options for the plant,” Kay Hart, President International Markets Group at Ford Motor Company said in a post on LinkedIn.
She said this step underscored the company’s ongoing commitment to India as the company intends to leverage the manufacturing expertise available in Tamil Nadu to serve new global markets.
“I know people will be curious, but we will have more to share about the type of manufacturing and which export markets we’ll be focusing on, along with other details, in due course,” she said.
Hart also spoke of the company’s decision to add to its growing employee base in Chennai. Its global Ford Business Solutions team based in the city is more than 12,000 strong and the company is planning to increase that by another 2,500 to 3,000 team members in the next few years, she said.
“When you add that with our engine manufacturing team in Sanand and our ongoing customer and dealer support team, India is Ford’s second-largest employee base worldwide,” Hart said.
ET had reported on Wednesday that the US automaker was currently doing a feasibility study on its entry strategy for India, which will initially comprise vehicle exports, eventually expanding into assembly of completely knocked down (CKD) vehicles, as per people in the know.
Ford pulled the plug on its Indian operations in September 2021. The company sold its factory in Sanand, Gujarat, to Tata Motors. It was also in parleys with other automakers to sell the Chennai factory but later shelved the plan.
“The Chennai plant, which has been non-operational since mid-2022, will initially start as an Export Oriented Unit (EOU),” one of the persons cited above had said.
Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin saying on Wednesday met with Ford officials to discuss the future of the company’s shuttered plant at Maraimalai Nagar near Chennai.
Sources had said further clarity was expected upon the Tamil Nadu CM’s return from his 17-day US trip that was aimed at garnering fresh investments for the state. On Friday, the CM posted that he was leaving the US.
People in the know had said Ford was doing a feasibility study on products like the Endeavour, Everest midsize SUV and the Mustang range.
Further, engineers were also working on an affordable all-new electric vehicle platform, which could make its way into developing markets like India at a later stage, they added.
