Ford is ending production in India and taking a $2B hit in the process
cnn.com
cnn.com
Tata and Maruti Suzuki monopolize the budget sector. Honda and toyota run the middle tier and Germans run the top end. The enthusiasts buy bikes and minis.
Ford and american manufacturers at large have zero market in india. About time they left.
As far as American cars being uncompetitive, I’m not so sure. They tend to be comfortable and powerful compared to many other vehicles and have (so far) spent a lot less time lying to the authorities about their emissions.
Are all foreign and domestic manufacturers affected by this, or were there additional considerations for Ford vehicles in India? For instance, issues with price, features, appearance, anti-foreign sentiment, restrictions for foreign brands, or something else?
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/ford-m...
The auto market in India has not grown as widely hoped and has been hyped competitive (German, japense,korean and some Chinese automakers all have presence), partly economy has slowed down, partly fuel is very expensive due to taxes at $5.5+ /gallon .
GM already announced their exit some time back, and Ford's been expected for a while now.
It is pity, ford have a decent service network and been a good brand since the late 90s.
In my experience hyundai puts in a lot of features into their cars especially at their mid market price point, which is great until the car is 7+ years old extended warranty no longer covers and/or you have rough usage.
Toyota are really the best when it comes to reliable older cars, Ford is not too bad especially since a used Ford is not as expensive as a used Toyota
I have had better experience with older Ford cars than with Hyundai cars.
I think more than reliability and service, it is the their inability to keep adding all the bell and whistles expected in a hyper competitive market is what is doing them in.
India is a very young market a lot of first time buyers etc, new sales is less influenced by service /after market experience(ola electric* or MG and other new entrants have had no problem selling) and lot more by attractive financing, marketing and all the trinklet features people are usually attracted to.
Perhaps I am biased because I have worked with Ford in the past (and also Hyundai)
* Although still very early days and only pre-orders for small token amounts they have had very strong reception, concerns over after market experience is not all that prominent concern as you would expect.