Ford India has confirmed fresh spending to expand capacity at its manufacturing plant in Chennai, Tamil Nadu and set up a new global engineering and technology centre. Representatives from Ford and Tamil Nadu state government signed a memorandum of understanding at the Global Investor Meet, making way for a Ford campus across 28 acres of land, the company said in a statement.
It, however, did not disclose the amount of investment and the enhancement in production capacity of the plant, The Economic Times reported, citing PTI.
Ford Asia Pacific president Dave Schoch said: “India is at the centre of innovation at Ford and we are delighted to strengthen our presence with a new global engineering and technology centre. This is the next chapter of our India journey. With these latest investments, we are making rapid progress in our vision of driving innovation from India to the world.”
A senior state Industries Department official said, “Ford’s expansion plan is currently going on. We are yet to finalise it.”
The Tamil Nadu government signed off on over INR2.4 trillion (US$36bn) investments from various companies in the two-day Global Investors Meet.
Ford’s Chennai plant can make 200,000 vehicles and 340,000 engines. Operations in Tamil Nadu also include global business services, with offices in Chennai, and Coimbatore.
The new Ford campus will host global business services IT, product engineering, finance and accounting, data analytics and manufacturing.
Ford has spent $2bn in India including $1bn on its second plant at Sanand in Gujarat which became operational in March. The plant produces the recently launched Aspire sedan and will also roll out the upcoming Figo hatchback.
The company exports vehicles and engines made at its two factories in India to 50 countries.
