Ford India broke ground on Monday for its new, state-of-the-art integrated manufacturing facility at Sanand in Gujarat.
Ford is investing about $1 billion to build new vehicle manufacturing and engine plants in Gujarat.
To create 5,000 jobs
The new facility is expected to create around 5,000 jobs. It will be able to initially produce 2.40 lakh vehicles and 2.70 lakh engines a year. The first vehicle and engine are scheduled to come off the line in 2014.
“With this groundbreaking, Ford is planting the seeds for a prosperous future in Sanand for our future employees, suppliers, dealers and customers,” a release quoted Michael Boneham, President and Managing Director, Ford India, as saying.
“Today is another milestone and reinforces our commitment to aggressively grow the Ford brand in India and offer a full range of exciting, fuel-efficient vehicles to Indian customers,” the release quoted him as further saying.
“These new state-of-the-art facilities will help Ford reach the goal of increasing worldwide sales by nearly 50 per cent by mid-decade to 8 million vehicles a year.”
Earlier this year, Ford announced an investment of $72 million by 2012 to expand its already operating powertrain facility in Chennai. Ford's total investment in India to-date is about $2 billion.
