Ford India has announced the shut-down of its two factories in India, in Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and Sanand (Gujarat). With this decision, the livelihoods of more than 40,000 people is threatened, of which 4000 are Ford Motors’ in-house employees and about 40,000 odd are employed with dealers. The Company tweeted, “Ford Restructures India Operations: To cease vehicle manufacturing in Chennai & Sanand; Progressively wind-down manufacturing of vehicles for export at Sanand plant by Q4 2021 & Chennai engine/vehicle assembly plants by Q2, 2022; To continue engine manufacturing for export.”
The Company has mentioned that Ford Motors is not exiting the country, but only restructuring itself and building a long-term sustainable model. In the future, it will only sell imported vehicles such as Mustang in the country.
Ford India’s statement reveals that the Company will talk to all the dealers, suppliers and employee unions and decide on a plan to compensate the approximate losses of employees.
In the last 10 years, the Company managed to capture only about two per cent of the market share in India, with Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai being one of the leading companies in terms of market share at about 60 per cent. It was also reported that the Company has registered losses of close to two billion dollars in 2019, and $0.8 billion in the last 10 years alone.
