Soon made-in-India Ford EcoSport to run on US roads. Here’s how

United States will soon get a taste of ‘Made in India’ cars as Ford India is planning to ship its popular compact sport utility vehicle-EcoSport-to the US for sale starting October 2017.

The company has already started working on developing a face-lifted version of the car for North American markets and has initiated a preliminary tendering process to source components.

Economic Times reported that the request for quotation put out by Ford is for as many as 90,000 units a year, which is more than the number of vehicles it sells in India.

It is worth mentioning that no US car maker has ever exported cars made in India back to its home market.

If Ford gets the nod, the move will be historic for the American car maker as well as for India.

The financial daily stated that made-in-India cars have been exported to many markets, including those in Europe. India is already a key export base for Ford Motor - it ships India-made compact vehicles to Europe. Mahindra & Mahindra had plans to take a pickup version of the Scorpio to the US, but that hasn't happened.

A Ford India spokesperson told ET the company "would not like to comment on speculation around future product and manufacturing plans".

In a recent interview with ET, Ford Motor Chief Executive Mark Fields said he wouldn't rule out the possibility of exporting from India to the US. "In business, you never rule out from the beginning certain opportunities. But it all comes down to making sure first and foremost that wherever the product is manufactured, you want to make sure that it is high quality and meets the expectations of consumers," he had said.

But India's faces threat from Ford Thailand, which is also competing for the order to supply the SUV for the US and Canadian markets.

"The plan for exports to the US from Asia was there right from the start. As the company was globally restructuring operations, the clarity on whether India or Thailand was being studied," one of the people told ET.

Ford, which entered India two decades ago, has invested more than $2 billion but is still struggling to turn profitable as it is currently sitting on accumulated losses of more than Rs 1,000 crore.

The local demand didn't match expectations and Ford decided to export vehicles from India, starting with the Figo hatchback in 2010.

(Image: Indiatimes)