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Old 12th September 2021, 20:51   #331
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re: Ford stops manufacturing cars in India

I own a 2021 Ford Ecosport Diesel and facing major issues with electronics & Engine. I had bought the vehicle from Elite Ford (Bangalore). I have visited the Elite Serive Centre twice to complain about the issues. The 1st time I was told it was just about updating the software & remapping which was done. Couple of others issues regarding the engine was dismissed saying that it may be a new car for me and I will take time to adjust.

I reminded them that I had been driving a Ford Fiesta Diesel for about 1.4 Lac kms & hence have a fairly good experience with Ford Diesel cars. But they just did not want to attend to the issues. After 2 months I again had to drop the car at the service centre for power loss issues. This time again the issues was dismissed and I had to get the car back. I was told by other Ecosport owners that Elite Ford service centres are terrible in terms of service. Though the showroom experience was excellent, I am now being led to believe about the issues with their service centre.

Today I experienced major engine loss in 3rd & 4th gears and the Malfunction Indicator Lamp lit up. Not sure what does this mean. Equally worried with the news of Ford leaving its dealers & customers in lurch.
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Old 12th September 2021, 20:59   #332
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re: Ford stops manufacturing cars in India

On a slightly different note(this might warrant a new thread altogether), I believe the absolute numbers of cars owned by private individuals have reached a saturation point and will continue to stay at a similar level or decrease slightly, the reason being stunted growth of the middle class in India.

The number of families entering the threshold of middle class has continued to shrink even before 2020, and cars being big ticket aspirational products of the middle class, other than real estate, have had the short end of the stick unfortunately.

A lot of automakers have seen the writing on the wall and while some like Ford chose to exit the market altogether, the ones which stay will continue to lobby the Transport Ministry to reduce the legal lifespan of private vehicles altogether to boost fresh sales.

Here's an article by the Indian Express on this and another one by Mint.

I saw a thread on twitter on this, and since I'm not sure if linking tweets is allowed in this forum, I'm copy-pasting it verbatim.

Quote:
You want to buy a cheap car & take a loan of Rs.2.5 lakh, intending to pay it off in 5 years. Your EMI would be around Rs.5,000. It is safe to say that you need a monthly household income of at least Rs.40,000, to sustain your EMI payments. So how many Indians can buy cars?

India has 23 mn households who earn more than Rs.40K per month (source: CMIE). Indian carmakers have sold 24.3 mn cars in the past 10 years. Even with replacement demand, you can see why the car industry in India has reached a dead-end, unless the middle-class expands.

Addendum: This is in the context of Ford leaving India. It is easy to blame the Modi govt for it. But the reality is that it is a result of 35 years of economic policies followed by every government, across the political spectrum.
On the success of Kia and MG:

Quote:
Kia has sold about 3 lakh cars in India since its debut in 2019. Maruti sold that many in just the first four months of this fiscal.

Kia, MG cater to a minuscule section of India's population, who have done reasonably well even through the economic slowdown.
Further:

Quote:
The auto sector is symptomatic of all that's wrong with 'trickle-down' economics followed by India for 35 years now. When you cater to the top 5%, this is what you are bound to get. The red circle shows how passenger car sales was dropping in UPA years as well. (Source: CMIE)

Right now we have reached the end of all kinds of 'jugaad consumption'. As I have written in the past, consumer durables sales grew in the early Modi years because real estate completely collapsed, diverting funds to prop up car sales among other things.

As we know, in 2019, BEFORE COVID hit us, we saw a complete collapse of the car market, as middle-income groups got hit and the financing system got disrupted with NBFCs being hit by liquidity issues. This govt has no policy weapons to deal with this.
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Old 12th September 2021, 22:26   #333
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re: Ford stops manufacturing cars in India

I see many comments about "bhedchal" / herd mentality of us Indians not very conducive for foreign brands. To me it is a problem of chicken and egg. When established foreign brands like GM / Ford / Harley etc decide to exit so abruptly, can we put our hard earned money on other already struggling brands like FCA/Nissan/Renault etc? I am already hearing comments from people I know doubting the long term prospects of newbies like MG. With so much uncertainty around, can you blame Indians for going with tried and testes brands to put their hard earned money??

Last edited by Aviator_guy : 12th September 2021 at 22:28. Reason: Grammer
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Old 13th September 2021, 01:17   #334
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re: Ford stops manufacturing cars in India

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Originally Posted by Aviator_guy View Post
can you blame Indians for going with tried and testes brands to put their hard earned money??
No, you are right. This is because we can't afford to. Would you experiment with a laptop brand, which offers something different, maybe just the look/ feel and sturdiness? Probably yes, because the hard earned money argument applies more to cars, which are a significant component of our income.

Of course there are many other reasons, including Ford's own faults, but there is a pattern with a certain set of manufacturers in our market, which shouldn't be ignored.

Ford had great cars, so did GM and the people who bought it were as right in their choices as others who chose another brand (we've all read people took deliveries just before Ford's announcement). The problem is that the factors of decision making aren't linearly distributed in this country due to multiple socio-economic reasons.
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Old 13th September 2021, 01:54   #335
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re: Ford stops manufacturing cars in India

The advertisement on Team-BHP by Spinny features a Ford Ecosport!! Pure coincidence or clever marketing?
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Old 13th September 2021, 08:44   #336
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re: Ford stops manufacturing cars in India

A little birdie tells me that Ford didn't want to sit on dead stock of thousands of cars or parts. Hence, it intentionally misled the market by running mules of the EcoSport facelift & passing out rumours of the Endeavour Bi-Turbo to some of its dealers.

Everyone lies. Even Mary Barra - CEO of GM USA came to India to announce a big $1 billion investment - then GM India coyly pulled the shutters down a year later.

Last edited by GTO : 13th September 2021 at 11:18.
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Old 13th September 2021, 09:01   #337
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re: Ford stops manufacturing cars in India

That is the second time, this kind of misleading has happened. Both from large American corporations. By toying with the market's trust. they are destroying the chances of other global manufacturers to succeed in India too. When I got burned by Chevrolet leaving India, one thing I had decided was that I will never give my money to an American manufacturer again. So Ford and Jeep did not even enter my consideration set in 2017.

Now that this has happened again, I will reduce my consideration set again. I think it is wise to stay with the companies that are doing well or have special interests in our country. As of now, we only have 5 mass-market players that we can trust to put our money on - Suzuki, Hyundai-Kia, Tata, M&M, and Toyota.

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Old 13th September 2021, 09:10   #338
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re: Ford stops manufacturing cars in India

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Originally Posted by lsjey View Post
I disagree a little. There will be reduction in the ASCs. The following is my reasoning:
  • There will be no new cars getting added to the servicing pool. This means the business will not grow. ASCs can grow only by taking more of the same pie. Hopefully good ASCs survive and bad ones go out of business.
  • There will be a shift to FNGs. This shift happens even for cars that are still being sold. Typically, cars which are out of warranty tend to favor FNGs.
  • Service productivity will be hit due to increased lead times in procuring genuine spare parts.
Regards,
lsjey
Fair points .. The reason that they think the after sales service will not be a loss making business because of 2.8 billion Indian rupees that Ford is making today.
The reason that , they feel that people may not go to FNG is that , currently 80% of owners come to Ford Service centers for repairs (Including body repairs ). This number has been growing year of year because of the service affordability factor was growing year over year.
Your one point is right, in a city where there are 5-6 service centres are there presently, it may go down to one or two over time.
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Old 13th September 2021, 10:21   #339
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re: Ford stops manufacturing cars in India

Quote:
Originally Posted by shancz View Post
I disagree.
So many iconic brands had to exit because they failed to understand the market.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pannags View Post
I beg to disagree. In this particular case, Ford completely lost the plot due to the evident lack of a strategy!
Quote:
Originally Posted by souvikjana83 View Post
There is a huge section of people in India who would want to own a vehicle with minimal cost, minimal maintenance and a lot of trust.
Of course I agree that Fords didn't sell well because they didn't give what the Indian buyers wanted - Marutis.

I feel that the Ecosport is a better car than the Brezza, the Figo a better car than the Swift and the Endeavor a better car than the Fortuner. But yes, that is not what the market wants.

And I am glad that Ford chose to exit the market than rebrand shoddy Maruti cars like the Baleno and Brezza to stay in the market.
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Old 13th September 2021, 11:00   #340
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re: Ford stops manufacturing cars in India

I used to drive Fiesta 1.4 TDCi. Great car with awesome DNA...

But shocking from Ford Management. Their media section on the website reads strengthening dealer network in NCR region - April 2021

https://www.india.ford.com/about-for...ford-in-noida/


Looks like the management in the US didn't have the patience or the empathy to allow dealers to plan for exit. Very disappointing attitude !!
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Old 13th September 2021, 11:22   #341
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re: Ford stops manufacturing cars in India

Hi All, I had recently bought Ford Endeavor 3.2 (pre worshiped) thinking its a great truck and with ford's service support I can keep it for atleast 5-7 yrs but now I am concerned, with Ford moving out will it impact ownership experience and maintenance of this truck for atleast 5 yrs? Also what happens to the resale value of this vehicle? Will it come crashing down or will it still hold in the market because of the product?
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Old 13th September 2021, 11:28   #342
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re: Ford stops manufacturing cars in India

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Originally Posted by dragonfire View Post
Of course I agree that Fords didn't sell well because they didn't give what the Indian buyers wanted - Marutis.

I feel that the Ecosport is a better car than the Brezza, the Figo a better car than the Swift and the Endeavor a better car than the Fortuner. But yes, that is not what the market wants.

And I am glad that Ford chose to exit the market than rebrand shoddy Maruti cars like the Baleno and Brezza to stay in the market.
It is not only about having a technically better car but how the consumer see that car - lot of things play a role before someone puts money like overall brand perception, after sales support, long term reliability, resale, VFM quotient etc. We can curse Maruti or Hyundai for all we want but they have been consistently providing all the above values to the Indians. It takes lot of strategic thinking, investment and patience to build a brand which people can trust. They have also kept the imagination going by launching new products or upgrades keeping in mind what works in India. It is not easy to lead the market consistently without putting customer needs first which was missed by the brands which chose or had to shut shops.

Last edited by Aviator_guy : 13th September 2021 at 11:36.
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Old 13th September 2021, 12:38   #343
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re: Ford stops manufacturing cars in India

It was not a shocking news for at least me as the rumours were there in air for the last six months.

I own a 2019 Ecosport (P) and I don't want to sell it even if I get a decent re-sale price. I am proud to have this car and want to keep it with me as long as the RTO rule allows.

Last month, there was a minor accident happened to my ES and I (Insurance Company) spent almost 1 Lakh to get it repaired. Some of the parts were replaced including Front Door and suspension.
Now I am worried if the same thing happen after two years, what would be the case. The Service Centre may not be able to procure all the necessary parts for the repair works and the cost also will be a big concern. If one part is not available, I will have to accept the damaged part after repair instead of replacement. Thus affect the quality of repair also.
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Old 13th September 2021, 13:09   #344
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re: Ford stops manufacturing cars in India

Quote:
Originally Posted by pannags View Post
I beg to disagree. In this particular case, Ford completely lost the plot due to the evident lack of a strategy!
Quote:
Originally Posted by dragonfire View Post
Of course I agree that Fords didn't sell well because they didn't give what the Indian buyers wanted - Marutis.
What stopped them from positioning and marketing their cars appropriately?

Quote:
Originally Posted by dragonfire View Post
I feel that the Ecosport is a better car than the Brezza, the Figo a better car than the Swift and the Endeavor a better car than the Fortuner. But yes, that is not what the market wants.

And I am glad that Ford chose to exit the market than rebrand shoddy Maruti cars like the Baleno and Brezza to stay in the market.
Ford, therefore, admittedly failed to focus and execute on a strategy to market and sell cars that are presumably better than those offered by market leaders. That, to me, is shoddier than having cars that promise driveability, reliability, and maintainability.
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Old 13th September 2021, 13:09   #345
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re: Ford stops manufacturing cars in India

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Originally Posted by GTO View Post
Hence, it intentionally misled the market by running mules of the EcoSport facelift & passing out rumours of the Endeavour Bi-Turbo to some of its dealers.
GTO, I am disturbed by this news. Corporate double-speak is normal and practiced by the overwhelming majority of corporates, barring the few responsible ones.

BUT, if Ford India has used their corporate might and marketing reach to purposely and actively mislead their current / potential customer base & dealer fraternity by pushing such false news (of facelifts and engine updates), this could be held to be gross misrepresentation and a punishable offence.

Definitely, had they been a publicly listed company this would have been a major issue for both the corporate and it's directors. For example, if the stock markets had reacted favourably to such news leaks/trickles and driven up the stock.

For Ford India & Ford Motor Company's sake, I hope your birdie is proved wrong.

Last edited by itwasntme : 13th September 2021 at 13:15.
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