The global engineering and technology centre will be bringing in new investment that will also be used to expand its total manufacturing capacity.
India has turned out to be an extremely lucrative market for Ford not only in terms of domestic sales but also with respect to export operations. Adding to its existing investment of $2 billion (approx. Rs. 13,248 crores) over the years, the American auto giant has announced that it will be establishing a new global engineering and technology centre at the Chennai plant and also plans to expand the total manufacturing capacity. The automaker signed an MoU at the Global Investor Meet with the Tamil Nadu government and is yet to announce the amount of new investment that will be coming in.
Apart from the new global engineering and technology centre, the Chennai campus will also be expanding to host operations of Ford Global Business Services in the field of IT, product engineering, finance and accounting, data analytics, manufacturing among others. Spread over 300 acres, the Ford Chennai plant has an installed capacity of 2,00,000 vehicles and 3,40,000 engines per year with around 40 percent of the total vehicles produced are shipped outside the country. The company plans to export made-in-India Ford vehicles to over 50 countries globally.
In more recent years, Tamil Nadu has turned into a lucrative investment ground for auto manufacturers as more and more companies are opening shop here. Apart from Ford; Royal Enfield, Yamaha and Renault-Nissan are some of the names that have brought or will be bringing a chunk of investment to the state. While Royal Enfield will be expanding its existing production facility, Yamaha recently opened its new plant in the state. Renault-Nissan is also expected to sign an MoU at the investor’s meet, promising a new investment of Rs. 4200 crores, which will be used to expand the existing facility.
