Ford may locate 2nd car plant in Gujarat

US carmaker Ford is likely to make an announcement on the setting up its second car manufacturing facility in Sanand taluka near here, official sources said today.

Ford India's proposed site is likely to be next to Tata Nano's plant in Sanand. The company currently has a manufacturing facility in Chennai.

"Ford has been in discussion with the government to set up its second car manufacturing plant at an investment of nearly Rs 5,000 crore. It has decided on a 400 acres of land at Sanand for the facility," the state government officials told PTI.

The District Collector of Ahmedabad is in the process of earmarking 400 acres of land in Sanand, nearly 40 km from here, for Ford India, they said.

In reply to a query on announcement of manufacturing facility in Gujarat, Ford India in a statement said, "As part of our plan to introduce eight new products by the middle of the decade, Ford is expanding its capacities at its existing facility in Tamil Nadu as well as exploring other options."

In August last year, Ford had announced to launch eight new models in India by 2015 in a bid to tap the burgeoning domestic car market.

The introduction of the new vehicles would be part of the company's plan to bring more products from its global portfolio and other Asia Pacific and African markets.

The company has already invested $500 million to expand production capacity to 2 lakh units annually at its Chennai facility. It also has an engine manufacturing plant with an installed annual production capacity of 2.5 lakh units.

Ford recently announced an investment of $72 million to expand its powertrain facility in Chennai and to support its growth plans in India, bringing its total investments in Asia's third largest economy to more than $1 billion over the last decade.

The company sold a total of 51,420 units, including exports, in the January to May 2011 period, registering a growth of 71% compared to the same period a year ago.

The auto major has reportedly started exporting the 'Figo' model to Bahrain and Kenya from this month. However, there was no confirmation from the company about this development.

Tata Motors inaugurated the mother plant of Tata Nano in Sanand last year. The plant, spread over an area of about 1,100 acres, was set up at an investment of close to Rs 2,000 crore, after being relocated from Singur in West Bengal.

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki has also expressed interest in setting up a manufacturing facility in Gujarat.