[m8002?]

What was the reason Ford opened a new plant in Sanand? Since they did not have any plans to launch new mass market models, why build a new plant? It looks like they took some stupid decisions and it came to bite them.

The Chennai plant had the capacity to cater to the domestic and export markets and then some. They could have used that to manufacture RHD cars for the commonwealth countries.

[IamNikhil]

This was a long time coming! Seemed inevitable after the Mahindra-Ford JV fell through.

The talk of "continuing operations etc" will just be hollow, expect the whole thing to be wrapped up within the next couple of quarters. The resale value for Ford vehicles has just hit rock-bottom! Feel sad for existing Ford owners, especially people who have purchased cars in the last few months, this must have come as a shock. Those in metro cities won't have an issue with spares going forward hopefully, but the situation in Tier 2/3 towns would be dire.

However, for those with guts and money, this seems to be an opportune moment to negotiate hard with Ford dealers for the Endeavour; expect crazy discounts as the stock clearance begins.

[dragonfire]

Real sad.

Indians only deserve Marutis. So many iconic brands had to exit India because they couldn't build Marutis. A decade or two later only Maruti and Hyundai would exist in India. Even Honda and Toyota will eventually pack up and leave.

[rb003]

A sad day for the Indian motoring scene. I sincerely hope the car market does not turn too insular, but I feel this is the path we are headed towards. Eventually, I don't foresee players other than MS, Hyundai / Kia, Tata and Mahindra surviving in the market with a full range of cars. Other brands like Renault, Nissan etc will probably only find success in a few models, while the rest such as Ford, Skoda and Volkswagen will probably pull out altogether or restrict their range to very few niche models.

[Avinash_R]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

This is an excellent opportunity to grab well-maintained Ford cars that will flood the used car market soon, at throwaway prices. Even if service/support levels dwindle over the next few years, it would be worthwhile I guess.

Oh no doubt. I will be on the lookout for a good used endeavour now. Been a Ford fan ever since I owned the 1.6S.

[satyabrata.dash]

It's really sad to hear this. I bought a 2019 Ford Figo 1.5 Petrol AT. For a price tag of under 10 lacs, it's on of the best cars I have driven. Unfortunately Ford didn't market this hot-hatch at all. It makes me nervous thinking about how the service is going to be. I have seen how Chevy owners have struggled for spares in Pune and had to eventually sell their car's for dirt cheap. When I was in Cars24 to sell my old Alto about 3 years back, A Chevy Cruze owner there was offered a ridiculously low price of about 1 lac. So it doesn't really go well for us owners. I still hope to keep my car for as long as possible. I just love how it drives.

[gururajrv]

Ok, while we’re all mourning this exit, I believe it’s the arrogance of US companies towards Indian market made them lose their dollars. Indians were quite generous in embracing a good product (Take MG / Kia for reference). Ecosport was an example back from 2013. Why didn’t ford follow the same strategy? They didn’t introduce fresh products honestly just like how GM remained idling their engines for way too long eventually running out of gas, Ford did the same thing just by flocking their models for way too long with revisions done in between while the Koreans and Indian companies raced past them.

I believe Ford, GM makes a good case study for students

I really feel bad that Endeavour being such a wonderful & competitive product won’t be seeing the light of the day from now on after the stocks run out. Preowned markets might be the only way to source one but I don’t think the car would have bad resale considering it being a legend! Fortuner will be grinning ear to ear!

[Floyd de Souza]

This may partially benefit VAG and FCA. A part of the Ecosport volumes could go to the VAG twins and part of the Endeavour volumes could go to the upcoming Jeep Meridian. No doubt the established leaders in these segments would be main beneficiaries.
Confusing but interesting times.

[r-a-s]

FADA's statement on Ford's Exit.

[TheGearBox]

I just happened to spot an EcoSport demo car on the road this afternoon. Someone seemed to be taking a test drive along with their family. After this news of Ford's exit reaches them, I wouldn't be surprised if they stop responding to calls from the dealer.

Originally Posted by Whitebear

Now that Ford's gone, there's no true rival to Toyota Fortuner in the 50 lac bracket

Yes, a very competent model gone. And Toyota can actually increase prices of the Fortuner now so that you end up paying C-Class money for it! Double Whammy

Originally Posted by TejasKinger

PS: Interesting to note that none of the three cars in this image - the Tata Indigo Marina, the Toyota Qualis, and the Ford Ikon are produced anymore.

Maybe stop taking pictures with cars?
Just kidding

[CARDEEP]

Seemingly the small cars hurt big automakers more than buyers pockets. Government needs to rethink it's policies.

[poloman]

15K thread views in 4 hours. This is one of the most viewed thread in such a short period of time. Unlike other exits, this has really shocked and saddened the motoring community due to the driving pleasure and iconic brand value associated with Ford.

This may partially benefit VAG and FCA. A part of the Ecosport volumes could go to the VAG twins and part of the Endeavour volumes could go to the upcoming Jeep Meridian. No doubt the established leaders in these segments would be main beneficiaries.
Confusing but interesting times.

On the contrary this may further alienate risk taking customers from such brands. Buy only Maruti and Hyundai. No uncomfortable questions. Family happy, Friends happy, neighbors happy. Everyone happy, so you can also pretend to be happy.

[Aravind_M92]

That’s quite sad and unfortunate to see a company which saw even worser times in its history in India. The company has been holding on to India since it’s Escort days. All Ford cars have been iconic. The Escort, IKon, Fusion, Fiesta, Mondeo, Figo, Endeavour and Ecosport were all icons in their respective time frames. This just goes to show the fact that Indian government sure needs to relax some import duties.

American giants have left, now I believe next up would be European manufacturers. Fiat is already non existent in the current scene. FCA is surviving on JEEP sales. Citroen just launched again a long hiatus following the Jeep strategy entering into a particular market segment. Renault is clearly trying to win over in the lower price segment aka Maruti region but cannot do extensive R&D like Maruti here thus limiting their expansion. Skoda and Volkswagen are in a totally confusing segment. They don’t have low price cars, their top ends, even if competent with niche cars from BMW or MB, still loose out because of brand valuation. And now with the Kushan issue which I attribute to chip shortage resulting in cheaper quality chips resulting in car failure ( this is just my speculation). In the Eastern half, Honda has given up already and is holding on to the C2 sedan segment only (the only thing they’ve been good at since their inception) and Amaze doing decent numbers. Toyota has lost all its hope and gone the logical way of collaborating with Suzuki, the company with Maruti roots enabling them to sell decent numbers and Innova being their sole power. The Hyundai and Kia twins, Hyundai entered the market at the right time when only Maruti was in the market and Indian market needed a total revamp. I do believe like Toyota did with Maruti, companies in order to hold on to Indian market, would have to set up a JV with Tata, Mahindra or Hyundai (Again, speculations). Now is the time for Indian manufacturers albeit Mahindra and Tata to try and capture the market sales shares, which seems to happen now.

With global targets to EV by time frame of 2030 to 2040, I believe all manufacturers are trying to dump the ICE engines into third world countries as long as possible. (This was my first impression when MG and Citroen started up in India). With Tesla trying to set up in India and if only sales pick up, then is the possibility that Tesla would develop a India exclusive variant to appease the mass market. The Tesla are speculated to be priced around 70 lakhs! It’s high time Indian government classifies imported cars as per a manufacturers target market rather than a general structure allowing more flexibility for manufacturers to introduce new test vehicles. Hopefully something sensible turns up soon and we don’t have to be stuck with very few manufacturer choices!

[Karthik Chandra]

This is a sad news!!!

Sad day.

Thank you Ford - had fun in the Ikon 1.3, Figo 1.4 and now in Ecosport TDCi.

Unlike GM, we will miss you

[shancz]

Well this was in the making since their JV with Mahindra fell through. Not surprised at all.

Agree with others about their failure to understand the market and adapt accordingly. They had good cars but there weren't changed much. Just look at their competition when they were launched and today.

Ours is a very demanding market and for all manufacturers. That being said they did make good driver's cars.

Originally Posted by dragonfire

Indians only deserve Marutis. So many iconic brands had to exit India because they couldn't build Marutis. A decade or two later only Maruti and Hyundai would exist in India. Even Honda and Toyota will eventually pack up and leave.

I disagree.
So many iconic brands had to exit because they failed to understand the market. Not just Maruti and Hyundai take a look at Kia, Tata, MG, Mahindra, Toyota, Honda to name some with some highly successful models in their lineup.

Don't trust anyone but data
Autopunditz : Car Sales Aug 21 (Credits to Providers)

PS: They had already announced at the start of the year and probably even earlier that they would be limiting/winding up India operations as a part of their global restructuring. There was a thread on TBHP on the same. Anytime you hear those words the only question left to be answered is not if but when. I am not sure why dealers are saying that they didn't know.