Tamil Nadu, Ford Motor in talks to restart production eyeing global market | Company News
 "Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin with Ford Motor executives")
Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin with Ford Motor executives | Image Credit: X/@mkstalin
“Had a very engaging discussion with the team from Ford Motors. Explored the feasibility of renewing Ford’s three-decade partnership with Tamil Nadu, to again make in Tamil Nadu for the world,” M K Stalin said in a post on X platform. Ford India announced the phasing out of its unit on September 9, 2021, and stopped production at the Chennai unit in August 2022. This comes at a time when the city, through Ford Business Solutions (FBS), is turning out to be the brain behind key design and development aspects of all the globally successful models by the US major in the past two years. According to FBS, the company’s top-selling models globally — including the F-Series, Explorer, Transit, Ranger, and others — are getting a touch of India in them through the “design and development of specific components”. FBS oversees the global capabilities of the company through its 12,000 employees at its Global Technology & Business Center in Chennai and is in the process of creating 3,000 more jobs in the next three years.
Stalin also urged the company to expand their global technology centre there. He also extended an invitation to the senior executives of IT Serve Alliance, a major consortium of IT service companies for small and medium businesses in the USA, to make new investments in Tamil Nadu. As part of this effort to increase investments in the state, the Chief Minister is undertaking an official visit to the US to attract business investments to Tamil Nadu. During this visit, agreements worth Rs 7,016 crore were signed with 16 leading global companies in San Francisco and Chicago, and invitations were extended to senior executives of various top global companies to invest in Tamil Nadu. The meeting included Ford’s IMG President, K Hart, Vice President (International Government Affairs), Matthew Kotlowski, Ford India Director (Government Affairs), Sripath Pat, and other senior officials. IT Serve Alliance is the largest consortium of IT service companies for small and medium businesses in the USA, operating with 2,400 member companies across 23 states. The alliance supports business-friendly policies and enhances networking opportunities.
It was due to accumulated losses to the tune of around $2 billion over a decade that the company stopped its production in India. At that time, through brands like EcoSport and Endeavour SUVs, it had less than a 2 per cent share of the country’s passenger vehicle market.
First Published: Sep 11 2024 | 7:25 PM IST
