The Hindu : Business : Ford to sell 20,000 Ikons

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 11, 2004

Business

Business

Ford to sell 20,000 Ikons

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, AUG. 10. Ford India today unveiled a new line up of its mid size car Ford Ikon here. A base model, Ford Ikon Lxi and another placed below the top end Zxi, the Exi have been added to the range.

David E. Friedman, Ford India's Managing Director and President, said the company aimed to sell some 20,000 Ikons this year. Last year, 18,000 cars were sold, he said.

Ford has hired some 700 workers for its Maraimalai Nagar plant on the outskirts of Chennai, where the company will start two full additional shifts next month. "One will be for the Ikon and the other for Ford Endeavour, the multi-utility vehicle,'' Mr. Friedman said. With this, the plant would increase the capacity by 50 per cent to 150 Ikons a day, he said.

Ford India was offering Indian small car owners a chance at an upgrade to the mid size Ikon, at EMIs comparable to those of the small cars, he said. The company had sold over 14,000 Ikons in the first seven months of this year. The company was increasingly looking to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and towns to boost sales, Vinay K. Piparsania, Vice President at Ford India, said. There had been a lot of interest in mid-size cars in Pune, Madurai, Coimbatore, Chandigarh and Allahabad, he said. The company was adding 15 new dealerships this year in as many cities and towns taking the total to 105 dealerships in 86 cities, he said.

While some changes have been made to the Ikon's looks and the upholstery of the seats, and tubeless tires added, the car runs on the same engines — the Rocam for the petrol version and the Endura for the diesel version. The Rocam is made in Chennai, while the Endura was imported from a plant in the U.K. Between 15 and 20 per cent of all Ikons sold in India were diesel cars, Mr. Friedman said.

More excitement from Ford was likely later this year, when "we are definitely on track for another product launch," Mr. Piparasania said.

Earlier, Mr. Friedman said Ford India was exporting cars to South Africa, South America and components to China. Last year, we exported some 20,000 cars, he said.

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