[MotorDev]

Is Ford's comeback to India just hype?

Ford has left India not once, but twice! First in 1953 due to strict import regulations, and then again in September 2021 because of major business losses.

While Ford cars were decent, they never quite stole the spotlight. When they returned in 1995 with Mahindra, they missed the mark with the under-equipped Mondeo. It didn't do well, but they found success with models like the Ikon, Fiesta, Figo, and Ecosport.

However, Ford had a habit of stretching out the life of their models with minor updates. This was evident with the Ecosport, Figo, and Aspire. Eventually, they had to say goodbye.

Now, rumours are circulating once again that Ford is planning a comeback in India. But will they succeed this time around, or is it just hype? Will people actually buy their cars, or will it be a repeat of the past?

[saket77]

In my opinion, Ford decided to go off a little too soon. The Ecosport, Figo, Aspire etc tasted good success and were doing fairly well. In fact, lots of manufacturers with far less sales to show on charts are still operating here.

[GTO]

As I've said in some other threads, Ford India should've done what Ford USA did. Get rid of the fat, get rid of the non-profitable small cars and just focus on SUVs & Crossovers. Cars like the EcoSport, Endeavour etc. had a great legion of fans and were profitable.

A company of a smaller size generating good profits is enough to keep global bosses happy, rather than a company that aspires to be big, fights with Maruti & Hyundai and just keeps burning money. Ford India also suffered from mediocre bosses who generally didn't have it in them to run a car company in India.

Ford has so many products from their international portfolio that they could sell here.

Back to the news, I will be very happy to see Ford selling cars again, but it's going to be an uphill battle. You cannot exit & enter the Indian car market at will. Love their cars though = the new Endeavour, Mustang, Mach-E, F150...

[PrideRed]

While its great if Ford can make a comeback, its a risky move. While fans will embrace, if CBU, the cars aren't going to come cheap. Secondly, regular buyer will think twice before buying Ford as news of Ford leaving India is not too old. As per rumor mills they are looking to sell through other manufacturers, even if they come, this is just not right. If Ford wants to make a comeback, they should come back with full might.

[RROD]

I have owned 2 ford’s in the past.
While the cars were good and served well. I could never get the peace of mind that comes with owning a Maruti and now with the Koreans too.
Unless Ford can earn people’s trust, I am not sure if I would recommend them wholeheartedly for buying a 2 million+ rupee car.

[saikishor]

Media is to be blamed for overhyping Ford's reentry. This is being done just to increase followers IMO. Ford will not re enter the Indian market, given how they left in a rush. And as a BHPian has said above, it would require a lot of trust building by the brand for an average joe to trust the brand again. We need to let Ford rest, they left for their own good. Somehow Americans never found the formula to crack the Indian market.

[DivyanshuDiv]

Clickbaits - That's how every so called auto gurus on social media are cooking stories for Ford comeback to gain more and more traction on there account, portals or channels. May be, some of them might have some genuine information however, logically, I only see a possibility of Ford coming for selling imported electric cars and premium products, as a niche brand. Nothing else makes sense for them in India as they cannot be the same old Ford again, and they also don't want to be the same. Let's wait and see how the story unfolds.

[condor]

Ford un-did all the goodwill and confidence that they had built over the years with their excellent cars. But coming back now will be a second coming - From Scratch ! They have sold their factories. And that is not going to be easy at all.

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by condor

Ford un-did all the goodwill and confidence that they had built over the years with their excellent cars. But coming back now will be a second coming - From Scratch ! They have sold their factories. And that is not going to be easy at all.

They still have Chennai factory and until recently were manufacturing Ecosport. They do have dealers but only for service.

[ABHI_1512]

More than Ford, it’s the media and the car enthusiasts who have helped in the buzz around the comeback. Ford, while ceasing the sales in India did mention that all other operations will continue and that they will think of bringing CBU’s in the near future. So, theoretically they have not stated anything new to generate any hype at all.

While their comeback rumour is indeed very strong, what helped in generating the buzz is the last moment decision to not sell the Chennai plant and the talks of which were in very advanced stage. The recruitment drive also helped in generating the buzz and the recent sighting of the latest Endeavour has certainly added to the rumour mills going overboard.

Ford still has it in them to make a grand comeback to India. They have the products and service network to cater to the expectations. It’s commendable from Ford to still offer Extended Warranties on their vehicles even after they stopped selling here. Their service centers are still doing excellent work and they still value the feedback from their customers. Supply of spares were never a problem and the network is still robust. It’s upto Ford to come with the right strategy- something that they are yet to muster in respect of the Indian market.

[ron178]

I really think that at this point the media is trying to gaslight Ford into believing they committed to return

There are some hints but none of them are even close to conclusive. I do think their R&D facility is in full steam (it never stopped anyway) but there is absolutely no evidence that it has anything to do with the Indian market. That would explain patenting the Mysterious Midsizer and there is also some buzz about the imported cars being for R&D purposes.

I find it incredibly hard to believe we'll see mass-market Fords again. Mysterious Midsizer would be a 5-year-old design even assuming an optimistic 2025 timeline, and a new project is off the cards because Brazil won't absorb development costs anymore. CBUs are a possibility - after all the Endeavour and Mustang GT were doing better numbers than the Figo hatch by 2021, and the service network is still strong.

But I do not trust the media claims because most of the same ones were making hour-long videos predicting which Mitsubishi models will return after the unrelated news of the Mitsubishi Corp-TVS dealership partnership.

[dicor]

The hype is all about the new Ford Endeavour and most of the people who are talking about it do not have money to buy it.

Those who have money will spend it on tried and tested Fortuner. So Ford Endeavour is going to impact Fortuner here but Gloster, MU-X but certainly not Fortuner.

Ford produced some good cars in India and I am excited too about their comeback but will buy when I need it and most importantly when I develop a trust that they will not run again.

[Asoon]

There are two aspects here -

1) Their exit was a result of their mis management, with IKON, Fiesta, Figo, Ecosport, Endeavour ford has a success rate of likes of Maruti / Hyundai. VW / Skoda / Renault / Nissan / Jeep combined have not been able to launch as many champion products are ford alone. So product was never a problem, management was, not sure how with such a portfolio Ford cribbed for losses and the others (Renault, VW , Skoda) still able to survive. Ford was never a failure for the customers hence, the hype. (it is also evident from the resale value of ecosport , endravour )

2) They have a real chance to make an impact in the Indian auto space if they price right and do not take stupid calls (last batch of ecosport came without a spare tyre). They were already working on a model similar to XUV500, I think they should target 4.3/4M (Creta), 4.5/6M and (XUV700) and Endeavour segment to start with. They need a complete make over of ecosport as sub 4m segment has changed a lot since they exited

[abaliga]

I have my reservations on Ford's re entry in India, there is no way Ford can be a mass market car maker with a reputation for exiting our market when things got tough globally (nothing is stopping them from leaving the market again!), they may be able to convince only die hard Ford fans and enthusiasts (a very small percentage of car buyers) who have a risk appetite to take a plunge into the Ford ecosystem, all used car buyers and dealers were shortchanging sellers of Ford preowned cars by offering 30-40% lower value in relation to a comparable Hyundai or Maruti, customers will not forget this easily, having said that, what works in Ford's favor is

- Fantastic product in the form of the new Endeavour/Everest, can easily sell 1000 units a month possibly even more in a few years when they re establish themselves
- Good service back up through out the country, most of the existing Ford customers are generally happy with the Ford ASS despite their exit, this will give them a lot of goodwill
- The patented mid size SUV looks very good and will be a great product if launched with prices similar to Creta/Seltos

Also, I hope they do not make the same mistake Fiat did by tying up with another manufacturer to manage sales, only way sales will work is if they have exclusive showrooms across the country, this is going to be tricky if they want to sell only 1-2 CBU/CKD models.

[superblover]

Vehicle manufacturers operating in India and also globally are faced with the dilemma of EV transition. While there is no doubt that EVs have started to gather steam, the bigger question is whether they will replace or share space with ICE cars. The global scenario is increasingly turning out to be the latter as EV adoption is slowing down even in the developed nations of the world. Given this backdrop, manufacturers are tasked with walking a tight rope of balance between investing in new EV related tech and updates to their manufacturing facilities or to invest in developing new ICE products.

Ford having exited Indian manufacturing operations will stand to lose significantly if they begin manufacturing ICE models and the Indian market takes to the EV trend in a more forceful manner. Whereas if they invest in EV models, they stand a much better chance of surviving as the market share for EVs is steadily increasing and even it flattens out, they can take a good chunk away from Tata with their global product portfolio.

If Ford ever comes back, it will be CBU imports of ICE models such as Endeavour/Everest, Bronco, Raptor SUVs till they have their EV lineup ready to be deployed in the Indian market. Only issue is they should have held onto the Sanand plant because it was a fantastic facility built to their spec, but now they will have to invest in the Chennai plant for upgrades to enable EV assembly. A much cheaper investment with low potential to fail. Worst case scenario, they can sell it off to VinFast or MG who were both potential buyers for the plant.