Chennai, Feb 5:
Global Automaker Ford India is all set to take the compact car market by storm with its latest offering "Figo," the commercial production of which commenced here today along with the launch of a new engine plant.
"Figo" would hit the market in March, Ford India President and Managing Director Michael Boneham told reporters at its manufacturing facility in Maraimalai Nagar, about 50 km from here.
The new engine plant and the commercial production of Figo were formally launched by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin.
Mr Boneham said more new models would be manufactured at the facility to capture a larger share in the already bullish Indian car market.
"With the launch of Figo, we expect more cars to be produced in the next 12 to 18 months," Mr Boneham said, adding, Figo was the first compact car from Ford which had made its presence felt in the mid-sized cars like Fiesta, Ikon and Endeavour.
He said based on market response for "Figo", the company would decide on launching a new model in the next 12 to 18 months.
''After that, we are planning to launch another model,'' he added.
He said the company had invested 500 million US Dollar over the last two years in its plant and 90 per cent of it was used for the new engine plant and for the launch of Figo.
Stating 70 per cent of the auto market was dominated by the largest small car segment, Mr Boneham said Figo would be positioned in this category.
While parrying a question on the pricing of Figo, he said the car would come in both diesel and petrol variants and would also be exported as Completely Built Units (CBUs) to Asia-Pacific and Africa Regions.
Mr Boneham said with the launch of its new engine plant, the company would increase its production from 60,000 engines a year to 2.53 lakh per year.
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