Ford sells 16,000 Figos in 14 weeks; Begins exports to South Africa

Ford’s power seller, the Figo has found 16,000 households in just 14 weeks after launch. The company has witnessed unprecedented rise in sales of its first model aimed at the core of the Indian automobile industry. While that figure is impressive enough, a backlog of 21,000 bookings makes it a strong achievement. After being in the market for just two months, Ford will add a second shift to satisfy demand. It will take Ford’s annual capacity to 140,000 units. It is apodictic that 60% of the sales are from the brilliant TDCi diesel.

“We have crossed the total production figure of last year (about 30,200 plus units) a week-and-a-half ago. Our second shift will begin from July to respond to the significant demand,” Ford India president and MD Michael Boneham told reporters, handing over the key to its 1,000th customer of its MPL Ford dealership outlet on Friday.

Ford will have to battle rising input costs that saw it hike the prices of Figo from June. Prior to tolling out the Figo, Ford had carried out an extensive survey and found that the compact car (B-segment) constitutes over 70% of the country’s new vehicle market. Attributing Figo’s success to “competitive price positioning,” Mr Boneham said a high degree of localisation has helped the company. Ford has localised the Figo upto 85%, which combined with an old generation platform has brought down costs. The Figo currently demands a waiting period of 4 to 6 weeks and efforts are being taken to bring it under 4 weeks. Ford will increase its dealership count from the current 166 to 200, in a gradual manner. (not the way they opened 28 dealerships in a day)

Exports

Additionally, Ford has started shipping out petrol and diesel engines to Thailand and fully built Figos to South Africa. “We have recently started exporting diesel and petrol engines to Thailand. The monthly demand there is around 3,000 units. It is difficult to comment on the future volumes as it depends on the demand in the Thailand market as well as other markets the Thailand plant serves,” Ford India President and Managing Director Michael Boneham told reporters.

“While we are exporting Figo model to South Africa, new overseas markets are being explored,” he said. Boneham said the company will start a second shift at its Maraimalai Nagar plant near here as Figo is logging good volumes. “With the second shift the production capacity will go up to 140,000 units. The additional production will bring down the waiting time for Figo. We will be increasing the headcount in the plant by 1,000,” he added.