Ford to make India its Engine hub

Ford Motor Co. is looking at India as a base for manufacturing engines in the near future. The two engine families, code-named Panther and Dragon, will power several of Ford’s products globally and will be completely made in India.

The 2.2-litre Panther engine will be fitted in SUVs such as the Endeavour in India, 2017 onwards, while Dragon will do duty in the company’s small cars. The Dragon is a 1.2-litre petrol engine that is being developed in India and fuel efficiency will be its focus area.

This engine will power the small cars from Ford to be sold in India, as well as globally. Ford also has plans for an MUV in India that will compete with the Toyota Innova.

The Panther engine will power this MUV too.

Ford is planning to invest upto $800 million in India and will be expanding its facility at Chennai as well as setting up a new engineering centre. The company has been in discussion with the government of Tamil Nadu and signed a MoU (memorandum of understanding) for expanding its manufacturing capacity and establishing a new global engineering and technology centre in Chennai.

Ford has recently launched two of its new models – The Figo Aspire compact sedan, followed by the Figo hatchback, both of which have received a good initial response from the market.

Source: Livemint