[SoupRaw]

Originally Posted by dnabhi25

I did call up Satyam Ford and enquired about any discounts on their existing inventory! He surprised me by telling me that he has Ecosport automatic variant, Figo automatic and even the Aspire automatic (in BS6) which was supposed to be launched but didn’t! Problem is should I go for a Ford car as this would be my first car. Any suggestions?

Back to thread, any brave souls call up Ford dealer and enquired about discounts?

[/quote]

I'm in the same boat. Will be calling up a dealer tomorrow. What kind of discounts did he quote?

[k_ajay]

I'm a bit amused by the responses here. I'm for one definitely not sad or disheartened by Ford's exit. Not like a family member has passed away or anything to that effect. I can, at least, understand such comments from passionate enthusiasts who purchased Ford cars in India and/or became their customer, wanting to only purchase a Ford car.

If anything, I feel sorry for the dealerships, if I'm to go with the information in out Team-bhp article.

Ford had a good/ great past, it was all well until after the EcoSport and Figo, but fizzled and just died, after? They're just closing shop today.Nothing exciting to buy in the Indian mass market (save for Endeavour), what to be sorry for?

And the un-subtle hypocrisy. Market mostly buying safe vehicle products from Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Kia and that don't touch Ford with a barge pole. But sad to see Ford go. How does one except them to stay afloat with the sales they have?? And how many do they have to even sell?

Current owners should get the service support at least for the next 7 years, I hope and that will be good for them.

(If you want to reply to my post with hate or vilifying criticism, please keep it to yourself, thank you).

[sahil624]

Originally Posted by dnabhi25

Back to thread, any brave souls call up Ford dealer and enquired about discounts?

I called up three Ford dealers in Jaipur and all of them had similar answers that Ford is not leaving India and there are no discounts to clear up their inventory. This left me shocked and read the news carefully again. Looks like we are not going to get any discounts. I am looking for Ecosport diesel, top model preferably.

[DrCar]

Sad to see that Ford is leaving India.

Ironic is the fact that Henry Ford was inventor for assembly line technique to mass produce a car. Ford in India failed to compete in the same mass market segment.

More ironic is the fact that Ford still wants to sell limited number imported cars in future. And we all know the fact that it isn't easy to sell such products which competes on pricing with the already established big 3.

When I was applying for Teambhp membership, in one of the question I replied that 'Ford Fiesta first generation is the best car that I liked which had a good balance of handling, power and stability; were the chassis was perfectly in sync with the engine power.'

I really liked Ecosport but I don't know why people in international forums are absolutely hating it. Any reasons why?

[dileepcm]

While I have respect for some great cars we had, what else is expected from a brand
-Who is having a graph growing downwards,
-Who has some 2% or maybe even less market share,
-Who has not shown any interest in bringing any global flavours to Indian market,
-Who never showed interests in timely updates or facelifts,
-Who never tried to learn how Indian car market worked,
-Who never looked at light commercial vehicles market and who failed even to communicate plans.
-etc.

On the other hand, globally, ford leaders can make much better ROI from USA/EU markets. Needless to talk about USA, we all know about it. Even in EU, Ford is not bad. I would think that they are doing pretty good in small cars and commercial vehicles side (=ford transit etc).

At the end, this is sadly another story of another (American) brand just not being able to work their plans out in India. Though they say that services will continue, its going to be harder and harder and sooner than later, its going close as well.

[bhaskar.guru]

It’s indeed sad.

But just a wild thought!

How about replacing my Freestyle petrol with a Ecosport right now and be happy for the next ten years? 😎

Originally Posted by sahil624

I called up three Ford dealers in Jaipur and all of them had similar answers that Ford is not leaving India and there are no discounts to clear up their inventory. This left me shocked and read the news carefully again. Looks like we are not going to get any discounts. I am looking for Ecosport diesel, top model preferably.

I have this on my to do list to enquire to find out about Ecosport! Might not be a bad idea to upgrade to Ecosport from my Freestyle at this time!

[Update] - Mody, Fortune and Vibrant Ford at Hyderabad have no stock of Ecosport. Sold out! Figo / Aspire / Freestyle available!

[RGK]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

Coincidence? (Picture)

Ford cars never had good resale value, now with such a news the value must have gone minimum.

Originally Posted by jithin23

I personally feel that Ford was one of the few brands which didn't cut corners in India and pioneered with the airbags, ABS and rear wipers in the mass market cars such as figo gen 1. Their bane was also because of the constant feature shuffle in their portfolio every alternate month.

I'm not quite concerned about resale because I'm keeping my ecosport for as long as it keeps living (I mean till it goes to scrap or 15 years). And it's quite tough to find a worthy replacement for an EcoSport.

On the flipside, those who want a car and wish to keep it for 10+yrs, expect a juicy discount on a Ford now.

Had a discussion with a sales head in one of the dealerships and he said this.

The existing service is going to continue with the availability of spares for the next 10 years. It is nothing wrong to buy a new one even now and there will be good discounts as well (expected).

This news had hit the nook and corners of India and let's be ready to get a shocker price in the second-hand market. It is better to drive to the fullest and sell at a throwaway price after few years.

[fiat_tarun]

I'm glad I got to enjoy 2 great Ford's, the 1st gen. Figo and my current ride the Ecosport.

The writing was on the wall as soon as the Mahindra JV fell through in which Ford put so much trust that there was no plan B. If all had gone well we would have had a Ford version of the already amazing XUV 700.

I would say Ford's woes are their own and partly government policies for the auto sector. Ford messed up with lazy product planning, very limited offerings, poor vision, etc. On the other hand, India was to grow to be a huge market or at least 6m cars by now but we have been in reverse gear since the peak in 2017. Taxes are just too high to increase car ownership from the current levels of ~25 per 1000 people which allows very little or rather slow growth beyond the top 3-4 players here and is not a very attractive market for the big bosses at the HQ which is exactly what has happened in the Ford case.

Anyway personally this is definitely a bummer as my Ecosport is only 3 years old with just 40k on the Odo. I am confident service will continue but with fewer touchpoints compared to today. I love the Ecosport for the vehicle it is and I plan to keep her for a long time so not too worried about resale as well. We won't be getting cars like this anymore unfortunately.

If they do keep their word and stay on with niche imports then the overall experience will definitely be much better.

My Bluey - Truly wonderful ownership over 5 years and 70k km



My current steed - Paprika. Love every drive and will be keeping her for the long haul. Still has the best driving experience in the segment.

[pkk077]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

No body is asking Ford to give up on it's core strength, all they needed was to play to their strength and introduced good SUVs for which the market is crazy for. There are global models from Ford which compete with Creta, Seltos and XUV500, what was stopping them from introducing them in India.

That model already exists in our market. It's called Jeep Compass. Anyone buying it?

[anjan_c2007]

Ford dealers through the FADA are raising their voices and are asking the government to enact the Franchise Protection Act for the dealers as Ford India stops manufacturing in India. They contend that such an Act exists in Malaysia, Japan, Australia, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, China, Russia, Sweden and many other countries to adequately compensate the dealers in such cases. Their concern lies in the fact that after GM, companies like Harley Davidson, MAN trucks, UM Lohia and multiple "Fly By Night EV makers" have exited the Indian market since 2017. Ford's is the 5th biggest exit since 2017, they say.

FADA President Mr Vinkesh Gulati confirmed that he received a call from Mr Anurag Mehrotra, MD, Ford India, saying that they will adequately compensate Ford dealers who continue to offer service to the customers. There are 170 dealers who have 391 outlets. An investment of Rs 2,000 crores have been made.

Ford India employs 4,000 people and the dealerships employ 40,000 people according to FADA. A total of 1000 new Fords valued at Rs 150 crores are still in showrooms, apart from hundreds of these are used as DEMO cars.

Ford has appointed new dealers till five months back who will be the greatest sufferers according to FADA.

Incidentally, the Parliamentary Committee for the Ministry of Industry has recommended enactment of the Franchise Protection Act (FPA) in it's report # 303 in December 2020. It has recommended to the Ministry of Industry to enact the FPA to take care of the interests of the OEM's, auto dealers and customers as well, according to FADA.

Full news on this link:-

https://www.aninews.in/news/business...0210909223215/

[quantobigboot]

Originally Posted by pkk077

That model already exists in our market. It's called Jeep Compass. Anyone buying it?

Well according to August sales figures, 1000+ people are buying it. Taking into account how overpriced the Compass is, it is a good figure in my opinion.

[Jaguarpaw]

I would stay away from buying even a pre owned Ford now despite being a fanboy. Ford promises support for 7 years , but think about 50% showrooms getting shut down , Slow moving and body parts getting scarce and no one to address if you have a service issue. Chances of spare prices going north are very high due to scarcity.

Buying a 2010 above BMW 3 Series at 8+ Lakhs and scrapping it after 7 years doing all required maintenance would provide more driving pleasure compared to owning and driving any Figo / Freestyle / Ecosport at discounts. At least you have some existing company you can demand spares.

How ever it is strictly my personal choice and thought !

[suvrog]

This news deeply saddens me and really can't express my feelings. It would take quite some time to recover from this heartache. I started my driving career in a Ford. Now, I have a 1.5 year old Ecosport which just clocked 10k, owing to lockdown. I enjoy driving it to the fullest every single time and plan to keep it for as long as I can.

I wonder how the service experience would be, since, Ford is going to stop all its manufacturing. Luckily, I was able to extend its warranty till the 5th year. Hope, Ford would honour its warranty scheme. The service experience and spare parts availability would never be the same.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by RGK

Had a discussion with a sales head in one of the dealerships and he said this.

It is nothing wrong to buy a new one even now and there will be good discounts as well (expected).

Well, no Sales Head is going to say anything other than what he has told you.

Buying a new Ford (apart from an Endeavour) would be a risky move. Ford will suffer gradual attrition in its dealerships and experienced technicians. Resale will tank to pitiful levels, and body parts & glass items will become scarce as time goes by. Diagnosis & correction of difficult electrical issues also heightens as the senior techs move on.

Ford has also comprehensively shot themselves in the foot with the recent emissions recall issue. Already nervous older TDCI owners will worry even more about the health of their engines in later years. The DPF issue is another fiasco of course. It is rumoured to cost Ford upto 3.5L per vehicle to fix. Will they budget that kind of money now?

To top it all, NGT can anyday extend the NCR ban to all metros which will severely impact smaller vehicles disproportionately.

Sorry to be so blunt, but this is my personal experience with my beloved Cruze when GM exited India .

[Aaron:)]

Originally Posted by quantobigboot

Well according to August sales figures, 1000+ people are buying it. Taking into account how overpriced the Compass is, it is a good figure in my opinion.

1,000 Compass' as opposed to 10,000 Cretas

I've seen posts blaming the govt, as well as posts blaming Ford. It's clear that both are to blame.

As long as the govt. keeps pushing screwed up policies, doesn't implement mandatory crash testing etc. companies like Maruti and Hyundai will benefit at the expense of those like Ford. No offence to Maruti or Hyundai, they're doing what any smart business would do. When nobody cares about something like safety, why bother?

Ford is also to blame. The only two cars that were keeping the brand alive were the Endeavour and Ecosport. Both amazing cars, but the Ecosport was dated while the Endeavour was never going to be a volume seller anyway. The Figo twins were lacklustre, and there was nothing exciting on the horizon. If only they had tried to come up with something exciting in the 15-20 lakh space instead of trying to beat Maruti at their game with the Figo and Aspire.

Sad to see another carmaker go. As the number of options reduces, it's obviously bad for the consumer. As GTO rightly said, we need an industry with healthy competition rather than a duopoly.