New Delhi: Ford Motor Co sees signs of a slow recovery in the US auto market, Chief Executive Alan Mulally said on Wednesday at an event marking plans for the launch of a new small car in India.
Ford unveiled the car for India that it plans to produce beginning early next year (2010). The Figo is aimed at the market in India and for export in the Asia-Pacific region.
In the United States, Ford expects industry sales of about 1.1 crore vehicles in 2009, down sharply from last year amid the economic recession, growing to about 1.25 crore in 2010.
Ford's US forecast, which includes medium- and heavy-duty trucks, is more optimistic than that of rival General Motors Co. GM expects US industry sales of 1.15 crore to 1.2 crore next year, not including medium and heavy trucks.
"The fundamentals of the economy coming back is the absolute key," Mulally said. "It's a slower recovery and we think it's going to go with the economy."
Ford expects total US industry sales of about 1.1 crore in 2009, rising to 1.25 crore in 2010 and to about 1.45 crore in 2011.
US auto sales fell to monthly rates not seen since the early 1980s earlier this year amid the recession, though some rebound was seen in July and August as the government's "cash for clunkers" program supported demand.
Ford posted net losses totaling about $30 billion from 2006 through 2008. The only large US automaker not to reorganise in 2009 through a government-supported bankruptcy, Ford has said it expects to return to at least break-even in 2011.
Small car focus
Ford, the No 2 US automaker behind GM as measured by sales volume, is focusing on the small car segment where it expects demand to continue to grow globally and in the United States.
"We expect the small car segment will double in the next 10 years," Mulally said at the launch of the Figo, Ford's new small car, in New Delhi.
"When you look at vehicle size, about 60 per cent of the vehicles worldwide would be smaller vehicles like the new vehicle here."
The automaker also expects the fast-growing Asia Pacific market to play a bigger role in its global sales, he said.
The Figo shares technology with the generation of the Fiesta currently sold in India. That version is older than the Fiesta model currently being produced in Europe and China and scheduled to begin production at a plant in Mexico for North America beginning next year (2010).
Ford did not disclose the Figo's price, but Mulally said the automaker was not looking to compete directly with Tata Motor's Nano, the world's cheapest car at around $2,000 which hit Indian roads earlier this year.
"Right now we are going to focus on the larger portion of the (small car) market, which is the B size. So, we don't have plans to compete in the A size, or sub-B right now."
Ford will build the Figo at a plant in Chennai. Ford is investing $500 million in the facility to double its production capacity to about 200,000 vehicles per year and make it a regional hub of small car production.
The plant also is being set up to produce diesel and gasoline engines for local vehicle production and for export within the Asia-Pacific and Africa region for Ford.
Small cars account for nearly two-thirds of annual sales in India's domestic auto market.
The market is relatively small, especially considering India's population of more than 110 crore, with about 1.5 crore passenger vehicles sold last year.
It is however a fast-growing market, even in a global auto downturn. For the first four months of the 2009-10 fiscal year (April-March), domestic car sales rose nearly 10 per cent from a year earlier.
Comments
0 comment