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-   -   Ford cuts production target at plant in Sanand, Gujarat by 50% (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/175201-ford-cuts-production-target-plant-sanand-gujarat-50-a-3.html)

If the people at Ford are by any chance reading these posts, then please bring the Focus to India. They need to have one solid premium car to bridge the gap between the Aspire and the Endeavor.

I would agree. I have had the opportunity to drive the Figo AT and the Aspire diesel manual last month. Both were very well appointed, relative to price and peer group, and nice to drive. I loved the Figo AT. Finally, a well specified hatchback AT with a complete suite of safety products. They deserve to do better. What should Ford do differently, I wonder?

Which brings me to the point that the John Doe customer in India probably still does not value safety, and experiences like this drives car manufacturers to progressively keep dropping safety features to meet cost targets.

I was part of the team that developed this "Pre-Order" software for Ford (actually developed for foreign markets) - It works when there is strong pull for its products from the market and dealers can predict what they need 2 to 3 months in advance but Indian market is not "mature" enough for dealers to predict anything - something Ford does not understand. They have brilliant cars but sub-par sales experience and artificial shackles like this. Sad.

Each time I see a Ford Aspire on the street of Chennai (which is not much by the way), my heart feels for it. After my Test Drive last year, I truly was in love with the Diesel engine. I also thought that the front end looked smashing with the Aston Martin like touches. It truly is a wonderful car for the price range it is in.

What did not work for last year was the dealership experience. I had my antennas up the whole time I was there. The dealership attitude was either you take it or leave it; which is hard to justify for a new car release.

I still want to buy the Diesel Aspire, but I don't know if I will at this point of time. it will be a conscious decision which I will need to make later this year. I really hope the Ford twins do well.

PS: if the upper management from Ford is reading this, please bring in more dealers to Chennai and improve the customer experience.

The average customer in this segment goes for a petrol engine with a manual gearbox. The sluggish petrol engine offered by Ford in these cars is a huge turnoff. I'm sure the numbers are primarily from the diesel versions of the car.

Similarly, the average customer also looks for rear seat comfort and the poor rear headroom in the Figo is yet another turnoff for such customers.

Normally customers take test drives of at least two different cars when buying a new car and these two Ford cars will lose in such comparisons for the petrol model.

One big blunder Ford is doing is not producing EcoBoost 1.0 engine in India. as per team-bhp and all other reviews for Figo/Aspire, Diesel engine is a gem but petrol one is simply boring, especially compared to Suzuki and Hyundai.

As We know the market is moving towards petrol mainly due to less price difference and environment issues and related surcharges.

You want to buy a car or an entire fleet :)?!

I see what you're saying and there's definitely an advantage to having a wide product range. However, that isn't the reason for the Figo & Aspire's market failure.

So true :thumbs up! The two just got lost in the dust created by the others.

Not every manufacturer sets a target of 15,000 sales / model like Maruti. Some are happy with being no.2, no.3 or even no.4 in their respective segments as long as there is profitability & revenue. Honda would be happy in the months that the Amaze sells 5,000 (which is still a lot of cars!).

As per an article in IAB, the TD's and test drives have been suspended as the company is investigating an issue with the restraint control module of the two cars. Once the issue is resolved, the company will resume deliveries of both models. The restraint control module as per the report a component of the ECU that controls the deployment of the vehicle’s safety features.

What about vehicles already on the road? I assume they are impacted. Did not see any recall information.

A casual search on Google (as to what the Restraint Control Module is) threw up a recall done in 2014 for almost 850,000 vehicles (2013-2014 Ford C-MAX, Fusion, Escape and Lincoln MKZ vehicles) in the US. Link here

Source: IAB

They need to improve the fuel efficiency of their petrol engines. My BIL and his friend picked up Figo hatches only to get around 10KMPL. The best he has got on highway is 11KMPL. This is really bad for a new age engine.

Can Ford not follow a price revision like with Ecosports, to bring in numbers. Cutting production targets is sad as external suppliers also look for more numbers & profitability, same by dealers.
No product should be sold below cost, but Jazz price revision long back and even of Ecosports shows margins, though being in mass market.

Sure, the local government must have given incentives too.

The gospel of marketing, the four Ps (product, price, place and promotion), Now may be Ford needs to rethink the fifth P– Purpose.

http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report...urpose-1812393

At Maruti lxi/ldi, vxi/vdi bring in actual number, than at Ford, where they are more interested to sell high end version, basic one is only for publicity of price starting from.

Everyone has clearly mentioned about the experience at the Ford dealership. Very true, the sales team does not have any rigour to improve business.

On the contrary, Ford India's support to customers during Chennai floods was amazing. Ford was the first company to reduce the cost of spares by 50%. Recently, due to management change in MPL Ford, Ford has agreed to bear the service costs of the remaining flood affected vehicles (around 50-70) . The customers have to just pay the amount claimed from their insurance companies.

Also, I will share my personal experience in the relevant thread shortly.

Well yes Neel, I agree with you that the cabin space is better in the newer generation Fords. The Aspire is a good example of that.

But for the new Figo, I actually found it being short on the overall feeling of space inside, compared to the older one. Since it's a hatch, I am also taking into picture the boot space as it is generally accessible from the cabin itself. Considering the amount it has lost in boot capacity, that hasn't been well transformed into rear leg room. It could have been a tad better for it to be a very roomier back seat. That's why the overall shortfall in the cabin room. :)

Regarding the looks, for me, just a little bit more flab on the sides would have given it an imposing image to complement that smart front. It looks too narrow when viewed head-on or from the rear. And looks are a vital aspect as we know, for our market.

Can you please enlighten us on the topic. I am also from South Chennai and the only ford dealer here is MPL Ford and I did not get a very good vibe from them last year. I am in love with the Aspire but I dont want to get burnt by them for A.S.S.

With the management change, are things different now?

Can you please elucidate?

Thanks!

Anyone from Ford reading this thread? Must be proud of the goodwill the products have and embarrassed of the reputation that support network has.

I doubt if Ford anytime thought that entire or major output from Sanand shall be consumed locally. A combined sale figure of 2000-3000 for Figo twin may be surprising to some extent but not highly. How one forgets that Ford's mighty S&M team could not sell Fiesta in three digits per month.

Coming to the product, the awareness about 100PS diesel engine is not widespread beyond forum like BHP. And I am still puzzled that if Figo/Aspire can get diesel engine of Ecosport, why not its petrol one too. Providing a sub-par petrol is an amazing decision that for many places the Aspire way down in overall CS pecking order.

Hope this event proves a wake up call for Ford management.

This is quite shocking news and very unfortunate. Several issues plagued Ford India and lack of an India specific product was a big one. They finally addressed it with the brilliant Aspire and Figo diesels, but I guess they did dismissed the other issues as trivial

Its unfortunate that dealership experience has left a sour taste in so many prospective customers' mouths. Even more so because Ford is considered a premium brand in comparison with Hyundai (maybe not so much anymore) and Maruti.... both of which are case studies on how to crack the Indian market

However, more important is the fact that Ford does not have a positive image in the minds of the VFM customer that looks for attributes like FE, ASS and resale value. The disastrous reputation of the older Ford petrols have created an image that is now hurting the new products.

It is an uphill task but the ball is now in Ford Marketing's court to address this communication gap with the masses