Ford apparently plans to export its Indian-made EcoSport to the US from October 2017, sources have told local media.
The company has already started working on a facelifted version of the compact SUV for North America, India’s ET Auto.com reported.
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A spokesperson from Ford India said the company “would not like to comment on speculation around future product and manufacturing plans”.
A source said: “The plan for exports to the US from Asia was there right from the start. As the company was globally restructuring operations, the clarity on whether India or Thailand was being studied. It seemed that the project would go to Thailand in 2014 but now the company has begun discussions with Indian vendors to source additional US volumes from India.”
Rakesh Batra, partner at EY, said, “Certainly, in Ford’s global network, India may have attained the confidence of delivering cost, quality and desired volumes, as the logistic cost of shipping vehicles out of India is quite high. A sizeable volume also helps in improving capacity utilisation and thereby cost per unit, plus rupee depreciation also helps in improving competitiveness of vehicles manufactured in India.”
