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Old 1st December 2006, 14:01   #1
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Ford to launch new Endeavour EDIT: Launched

Though the Indian passenger car market has been a tough nut to crack, Ford Motor India is planning to launch its future products in the mid and high end car segment and will bring out a new Endeavour in early 2007 under its premium SUV category.
Arvind Mathew, managing director and president, Ford India said: "We will be bringing out something new every year. While new Endeavour is on the cards, we are also aiming at two sides of the car market -- Rs 400,000-500,000 category and Rs 10-12 lakh (Rs 1-1.2 million) premium segment -- for the India market in the next two years.
The mid segment had been the fastest growing at about 21 per cent till last year, when the small car excise incentive came and the market shifted to compact cars. We are betting on these two class of vehicles and will definitely not opt for a cheap car (like M800 or Alto) for the Indian market despite high volumes."
Ford India has increased its sales by 142 per cent in Cotober with 3,336 units and 115 per cent for the first seven months of the fiscal at 22,943 units. However its share in the Indian passenger car market stands at around 3.1 per cent.
Despite the low market share Ford's policy is to concentrate on car segment only. And despite the huge demand in the sub-one ton category vehicles and the recent success Mahindra Utility &Max and Tata Ace, it has ruled out a any one ton pick up trucks from its stable for the Indian market.
"Though the Indian customers has the desire to go for stylish products, the government policy of registering one ton trucks as commercial vehicle rather than private vehicles go against our range of stylish mini-trucks. There is no scope for our range of mini-trucks in India at present," said Mathew.
The company had launched Ikon Flair CNG, a dual-fuel variant running both on petrol and compressed natural gas [CNG] on Tuesday at an price of Rs 525,000 (ex showroom Delhi).
Initially the car will be available at available in CNG compliant cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Surat , Baroda and Ahmedabad.Mathew said they have conducted extensive research on alternate fuels and CNG fuel was chosen as its running cost is about one-forth the price of petrol.
Though he added that the company will concentrate on diesel as the alternate to petrol, for its economy and efficiency.
Nearly 70 per cent sales of Ford vehicles in India are of diesel vehicles.
Unlike Tata Motor and its American partner, General Motor, which has changed the engine configuration to take excise benefit, it will not downscale any of its products to tap the excise benefits.
"We will keep customer focus in mind, rather than take any policy centric decisions. Our future products will be quality driven as in the case of our latest offering Fiesta, which has been an astounding success and maintains a sizeable backlog of bookings," Mathew added.
The company contradicted reports of a possible diesel facility in India and ruled out any diesel engine manufacturing saying that it is not feasible at such low volumes and lack of right diesel technology available in India also goes against it.

Source : Business Standard :: Business News, Business World, India Stock News, Mumbai Stock, Market Index, India Business, India Economy, Corporate Result, Budget, Trade, Events, Technology, Cars, Bikes, Retail, Buy, Sell, Shop, SMS, Regional News, Corporate
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Old 2nd December 2006, 11:27   #2
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Ford made two mistakes with the Endeavour:

1. Did not launch the right engine, ride quality and interiors to justify a 15 lac price.

2. Taken more than three years and yet...these faults are not addressed. All they state is that a New Endeavour is on the cards.

With an attitude like that, its no surprise that the Ford SUV is a flop.
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Old 3rd December 2006, 16:34   #3
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Ford definitely made a mistake with the 'Endeavor' launch.They should have introduced the smaller Ford 'Escape'.
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Old 3rd December 2006, 19:01   #4
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Originally Posted by nickatnite View Post
Ford definitely made a mistake with the 'Endeavor' launch.They should have introduced the smaller Ford 'Escape'.

Not practical cost wise - Endevour comes from Thailand and is exemt under some indo thai agreement on duty exemption. Honda and Toyota are making hay under this scheme
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Old 3rd December 2006, 19:10   #5
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It will around 18 Lakhs but with a new engine to justify ..
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Old 3rd December 2006, 19:14   #6
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Yeah? That's news...though the Escape is also sold in Thailand.
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Old 3rd December 2006, 20:06   #7
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Indians today just will not accept an underpowered and overpriced vehicle. And too an American marque.
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Old 3rd December 2006, 20:08   #8
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Indians today just will not accept an underpowered and overpriced vehicle. And too an American marque.
American Marque or White Trash?
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Old 3rd December 2006, 20:12   #9
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Indians today just will not accept an underpowered and overpriced vehicle. And too an American marque.
Some guys just buy it for its so called intimidating road presence. Pure Hulk.
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Old 3rd December 2006, 20:32   #10
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American Marque or White Trash?
Now now...that's a bit much...they had some nice cars, like the...erm...gee...

Nice to know someone thinks of them the same way.
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Old 3rd December 2006, 21:07   #11
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Goes to show how little Ford knows about the Asian Market and its competetive landscape. The endy is based on the Ranger pickup which itself hasent changed for 3 generations with a ancient IDI diesel. Was primarily intended for Thailand where its sold as the Everest. Hopefully things will be rectified soon.
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Old 4th December 2006, 04:57   #12
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Actually Ford today has absolutely no clue over what's happening not only in the Asian market but look at their performance even in the US. They are making stupid decisions & if this continues they are gonna be in trouble for a long time. Same also goes for GM, if they continue with their current idiotic policies & poor selection of products then their target of achieving a 10% share in the Indian market by 2010 is going to remain a dream!

Ford should now introduce an upgraded Endeavour with better interiors, equipment, seating etc. & with a good engine producing atleast 150-160 bhp to make it into a sucessful product.

Quote:
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Not practical cost wise - Endevour comes from Thailand and is exemt under some indo thai agreement on duty exemption. Honda and Toyota are making hay under this scheme
Yeah India & Thailand have a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which allows duty-free import of certain products including cars.
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Old 4th December 2006, 05:03   #13
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Originally Posted by iraghava View Post
Yeah India & Thailand have a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which allows duty-free import of certain products including cars.
That's news to me, so the Endeavour comes as CBU?
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Old 4th December 2006, 06:18   #14
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Endevour can never hit a segment of a normal man in india as allready the prica tag is so high that a person a person who has a budget of even 10 lakh rupees cant even think of buying it, and as iam reading that its gonna be more costlier than the present one.....Its gonna be the same in sales
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Old 4th December 2006, 09:42   #15
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Had a look at the Endeavour at the Ford outlet here in Bangalore when i wne to get my Ikon serviced. Must say it had really drab interiors, and definitely not something one wud pay 15 Lakhs for !! All it does is rely on its bulky size to intimidate.

While i dont really know much about the Escape, i think the Explorer is also an option worth looking at.
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