Ford CEO Alan Mulally expects the new vehicle market worldwide to grow by 5% annually for the next two years, headed by China and India.
“The global automobile market is expected to grow by 5% in the next two years and most of it will come from the Asia Pacific region,” Mulally told Reuters after unveiling the new EcoSport compact SUV to media ahead of the public opening of the Auto Expo in New Delhi.
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“There is some slowdown in Asia Pacific but it is a very good market with a huge potential. In the Asia Pacific market, China and India will drive the growth,” he said.
Ford, which sold just under 100,000 cars in India in 2011, up 15% year on year, has said it expects Asian sales volumes to double to account for a third of the carmaker’s global sales by 2020.
“The Indian market will be the third largest by the end of the decade behind the US and China,” Joe Hinrichs, group vice-president and Asia Pacific and Africa president, told Reuters.
“We are still bullish on India and we expect significant growth as per capita income rises in tier-II and -III cities.”
Ford will spend US$142m at its 200,000 units-a-year factory in Chennai on equipment to manufacture the EcoSport alongside the Fiesta and Figo, Michael Boneham, managing director of Ford India, told the news agency.
