Ford India’s new Managing Director, Nigel Harwood explained that the company was working towards “easing” consumer pains over their EcoSport vehicle. The EcoSport which was launched by Ford in mid-2013 has been a sales success, but seems to have caught the American carmaker off-guard.
Although the company has delivered over 30,000 of the vehicles to customers, a similar number of buyers are still waiting to get deliveries. For certain variants of the EcoSport waiting periods are in excess of eight-nine months. “We are really pleased that despite the long waiting periods, customers continue to repose their faith in the EcoSport”, Harwood told a gathering of mediapersons as Ford unveiled their new ‘Figo Concept’ compact sedan ahead of the 12th New Delhi Auto Expo.
“We are talking to our dealers to help them guide customers to understanding delivery times. The unprecedented demand for the EcoSport would have taken any carmaker by surprise.” Ford India expects that in the future, they will not have any major production or delivery issues as their engine and vehicle plant in Sanand, Gujarat comes on-stream by 2015. “We have already started trial runs at the factory”, Harwood pointed out. However, he could not give a timeline for when Ford India would launch their new compact sedan which they showcased, but said that the growth potential in the sedan segment in India was tremendous.
Harwood also pointed that Ford India was evaluating their reactions to the recent Global NCAP test where several ‘Made-in-India’ cars including the Ford Figo failed global safety tests. Highlighting the fact that Ford adheres to Indian regulations, he said that Ford would evaluate whether fitting airbags in entry-level models, as German carmaker Volkswagen has decided to do with the Polo was a feasible idea.