[Bibendum90949]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Last Fords rolling out of the Sanand Plant:

Hope they make a comeback at some point, may be when the EV market is ripe or at it's peak bloom. They can aspire for such endeavours and make an "eco"-sporty come back in freestyle and fig out to have some fiestas thereafter

Au revoir Ford till we meet again !

[Leoshashi]

Another erstwhile Ford showroom, now displaying Tatas:

[Gansan]

Tata Motors CEO met the CM and Industries Minister of TN yesterday, according to this Youtuber. Something may be cooking for the Ford Plant.

https://youtu.be/c_o-dPhYXAQ

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by Gansan

Tata Motors CEO met the CM and Industries Minister of TN yesterday, according to this Youtuber. Something may be cooking for the Ford Plant.

https://Youtu.be/c_o-dPhYXAQ

Yes, they have already cooked the biriyani

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...nai-plant.html

https://www.team-bhp.com/news/tata-m...-sanand-plants

https://www.team-bhp.com/news/tata-r...-chennai-plant

[omranga98]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Last Fords rolling out of the Sanand Plant:

Attachment 2216918

Attachment 2216919

Yeah, this is where it's hitting me that FORD just left India.

Kind of sad thinking about the workers who have dedicated their lives working for a company that went south because of the management couldn't be dynamic with the times.

[The Rationalist]

The entire top brass of Ford India were such stupids, they sat on the golden oppurtunity of Creta segment. A Ford Kuga or something similar would have changed the fate of Ford India. I can’t still understand why Tata has given the incompetent MD a job in the first place. Hope he never makes it to their passenger car division, that would really be the end for Tata cars.

[anjan_c2007]

Another news link showing the last car leaving the Sanand plant in Gujarat, where the made the Figo, Aspire and Freestyle.

https://www.rushlane.com/last-ford-c...-12414659.html

[Herschey]

Businesses who stop taking customers seriously, most often face this fate when customers stop taking them seriously. I am really not sad at watching Ford leave. They were irrelevant earlier, they'd simply be absent now; not really much of a difference.

[aravind.anand]

Very nostalgic for me indeed. I last walked past that assembly line in October 2017, when I was on notice period and I left Ford in November 2017. I distinctly remember that phone call with my boss as I was walking back to the gate, and that evening I had a flight back to Chennai. My boss asked me to turn around and have one last look at the plant as I might not be seeing it in future, at that very moment it hit me. I slowed down and paused, turned and look back at that plant, took a deep breath and continued again.

Never did I imagine that Ford would quit India like this, but yes here we are! I always wanted to post in this thread, but somehow never could compose the right words. This photo triggered me. I will miss you Ford, and I will take good care of my Fiesta for as long as I possibly can I owe you at least that respect.

[aadi2700]

Stumbled upon this on Ford India's instagram page. (Picture attached)

Seems like they are quite serious about bringing in their "global portfolio".

Note- Apologies if this has already been posted previously.

[KANNURAN]

This is very touching indeed. For a moment, I imagined what the line employees would have felt, knowing well that the assembly lines will hum no more and with it, the question-mark their lives would face.
Workplaces are living, breathing eco-systems and it is only human to bond with them. It is a gripping feeling when one walks down a production line for the one last time. All the memories, the trials and tribulations, the endearing sounds of the machinery and of the friends and co-workers hit you in a rush. The walk back to the gate would have been a long and sad one.
A garland and prayer on the final car just adds to the empathy one feels for the workers, as much as the anger and contempt one harbors for the exceptionally inept and mediocre management that has led Ford to this sorry state.

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

Very nostalgic for me indeed. I last walked past that assembly line in October 2017, when I was on notice period and I left Ford in November 2017. I distinctly remember that phone call with my boss as I was walking back to the gate, and that evening I had a flight back to Chennai. My boss asked me to turn around and have one last look at the plant as I might not be seeing it in future, at that very moment it hit me. I slowed down and paused, turned and look back at that plant, took a deep breath and continued again.

Never did I imagine that Ford would quit India like this, but yes here we are! I always wanted to post in this thread, but somehow never could compose the right words. This photo triggered me. I will miss you Ford, and I will take good care of my Fiesta for as long as I possibly can I owe you at least that respect.

Poignant.

Auto enthusiast? Yes.
Worked for Ford? Yes.
Own/Owned one of the best cars from Ford India? Yes.

That's a heady cocktail to trigger mixed feelings.

[memascom]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

An erstwhile Ford showroom, now displaying Marutis:

Isn't this the one at Sibsagar? I saw it with Balenos and an Ecosport inside in August when speculation about their exit was rife. We know some of their technicians who service our out-of-warranty Polo; they set up their own garage a couple of months ago after management gave up on Ford a few months before Ford made their announcement.

Also, the long-running Maruti and Nexa dealership of Sibsagar and Jorhat has abruptly shut down, the rumoured reason is an inheritance dispute among the owners, I see Chakrapani filling into the gap now that Ford is gone.

[Venkatesh]

Inside story on what went wrong in the Ford, Mahindra partnership.

Ford is of the view that Mahindra saw the American carmaker as a threat and not a partner after it was shown the Ford C-SUV, “which looked far better than the XUV700” and made things difficult for them.

Mahindra is supposed to have insisted that Ford make a business case based on production of just 1,000 C-SUVs a year, which, besides being near impossible, would also mean Ford’s version of the C-SUV would be priced far higher and away from the Mahindra version. “It was absurd to think that our C-SUV would sell only 1,000 units a year, even with the Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 premium we planned to mark up over the XUV700, our minimum volumes would multi-fold,” said a Ford source.

Ford sources also accuse Mahindra of scuttling the partnership by making “the business case impossibly difficult with unrealistic scenarios, They spoiled the business case for C-SUV, and for the Aspire EV too. In the end, the only business case they could not spoil was for BX772, because that was in our control. But out of seven products, that was the only one going through.”

Full Article

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by Venkatesh

Inside story on what went wrong in the Ford, Mahindra partnership.

Clash of ego, jealousy and trust issues - reading the reasons given by respective companies I felt like reading the script of the next saas-bahu soap.

Glad they didn't go ahead with this JV which would have resulted in ugly cat-fights, lawsuits and/or bankruptcies.