'India will be hub for Ford EcoSport exports'

Ford's big ticket launch is all set for a drive-out as EcoSport shipments begin and dealers start taking bookings across India. Stepping on the gas, Ford Motor Company president & CEO Alan Mullaly talked about the new model's potential, India's importance in the blue oval world and Jaguar-Land Rover.  

How critical is Ford's Asia Pac strategy and where does India figure in that? 

Over the next few years the Asia Pac region will become the major sales contributor to Ford. In 4-5 years, around 40% of Ford's vehicle sales will come from this region. It is the largest growing market in the world and Ford is totally committed to it. We have 7 plants in Asia Pac - 5 in China and 2 in India - and even as we invest in this market, we're already profitable. 

With the EcoSport you're getting into the compact SUV segment in India. Will India be an export hub for this product? 

India will absolutely be the compact SUV hub for the Ecosport. It is one of the five locations where this product will be manufactured so just like the Made in India Figo is exported to 38 countries across the world, the EcoSport too will be exported. We want to export more and more out of India because India is so competitive. The small SUV market is growing faster than any other globally and we see a great opportunity in this segment. 

Given that compact SUVs are the flavour of the season, will you introduce more models and platforms in this segment in India? 

The B-size platform for EcoSport will be spread over around 2 million vehicles worldwide. It will be extremely affordable and pack in both scale and global volumes while at the same time be tailored to specific markets. It's a very versatile platform and we can do different variations on it - petrol, diesel, four door, five door, hybrids, plug ins, all electrics - all on one line. Ford pioneered the SUV and we have the most complete line-up of SUVs in the world. But a compact SUV can be fun to drive, be flexible, offer good visibility and you'll see all of this in the EcoSport. There can be 10, 13 or 14 different top hats in the B segment platform and we are committed to bringing vehicles in more segments as quickly as possible. 

Is the agreement to supply engines to Jaguar-Land Rover still on and will it continue in perpetuity? 

Yes, Ford continues to provide engines to JLR and we will take a call on whether we will continue in the future when appropriate. We are very pleased that Tata has purchased Jaguar-Land Rover. Those are great brands and one of the reasons why they are doing so well now is because we continued to invest in them till the very end. So what you see today is the result of Ford continuing to invest in those brands. But our focus had to be on the Blue Oval and Lincoln brands because even then 85% of our business worldwide came from these brands. So we decided to focus on these two brands exclusively and find really good homes for our other brands which worked out well for us. 

The Indian auto market is facing its worst slowdown in a long time. Has it affected your India plans? 

The industry in India is still growing despite the slowdown so with EcoSport we expect things to speed up a little more. Besides, exports will continue to grow. Focus is the number 1 vehicle in the world, 3 out of the 6 top vehicles globally are Ford products so we're clearly doing some things right. 

This is a long-term business - you take a view and make your investments accordingly. As more and more people participate in the economy it will impact automobile sales. In Asia Pac for instance, GDP is growing at 6-7% on average as opposed to 3-3.5% globally. We expect the auto industry to grow at around 5% worldwide. Within the Asia Pac region, we have big investments in India and China to get scale and value across the world. Ford was not focused on this region before - it happened only after our new strategic plan in 2006 and we're sticking to that strategy.

Also read: Ford EcoSport bookings open at Rs 50,000