Ford to expand Chennai plant

US auto major Ford Motor Co on Thursday confirmed fresh investments to expand capacity at its manufacturing plant here besides setting up of a new global engineering and technology centre. Representatives from Ford and Tamil Nadu government signed a memorandum of understanding at the Global Investor Meet, paving the way for a Ford campus across 28 acres 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.

Commenting on the development, 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." He further said: "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 has signed over Rs 2.40 lakh crore investments from various companies in the two-day Global Investors Meet.

Ford's Chennai plant has an installed annual capacity to produce 2 lakh vehicles and 3.4 lakh engines. Ford operations in Tamil Nadu also include Global Business Services, with offices in Chennai, and Coimbatore. The new Ford campus will host operations of Ford Global Business Services in areas of IT, Product Engineering, Finance and Accounting, Data Analytics, Manufacturing among others.

Ford has already made USD 2 billion investments in India, including USD 1 billion in its second plant at Sanand in Gujarat which became operational in March. The plant produces Ford's recently introduced Aspire sedan and will also roll out the soon-to-be-launched new Figo hatchback. The company exports vehicles and engines made at its two facilities in India to as many as 50 countries.