- The company took a decision to end India operations after an accumulated operating loss of more than $2 billion over the past 10 years .
- Approximately 4,000 employees are expected to lose their jobs with the shutdown in Ford’s India operations.
- Meanwhile, the company will continue to provide ongoing parts, service, and warranty support to customers.
Ford had entered India in 1995 and has since invested billions of dollars to set up manufacturing facilities and a network of sales and service centres for new and existing customers across the country. But eventually it did not work out and after 25 years of manufacturing operations in India, it is putting an end to it.
The company will gradually move out of India, it will shut down its Sanand factory in Gujarat by the fourth quarter of 2021 and vehicle and engine manufacturing facility in Chennai by the second quarter of 2022, the company said in a press release.
While the company’s cars were becoming popular, such as Ford EcoSport, it was still making losses it could not bear. Ford accumulated an operating loss of more than $2 billion over the past 10 years and a $0.8 billion non-operating write-down of assets in 2019.
Meantime, Ford will continue to provide ongoing parts, service, and warranty support to existing customers.
Approximately 4,000 employees are expected to lose their jobs with the shutdown, the company shared in the release.
Ford cars such as Figo, Aspire, Freestyle, EcoSport and Endeavour will cease to sell once existing dealer inventories are sold.
“As part of our Ford+ plan, we are taking difficult, but necessary actions to deliver a sustainably profitable business longer-term and allocate our capital to grow and create value in the right areas. Despite investing significantly in India, Ford has accumulated more than $2 billion of operating losses over the past 10 years and demand for new vehicles has been much weaker than forecast,” said Jim Farley, Ford Motor Company’s president and chief executive officer.
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