Ford rolls out 100,000th engine from Chennai plant

Car maker Ford India today said it has rolled out its 1,00,000th engine this month from its manufacturing plant at Chennai.

"This significant milestone was achieved just 14 months after the engine plant opened for operations in January 2010," the company said in a statement.

The engine plant has been set up as part of Ford's $500-million investment at the Maraimalai Nagar site with a capacity to produce 2,50,000 engines per year. It has been designed to meet the growing needs of the Indian vehicle market and export opportunities, Ford India said.

"The plant achieved the 100,000 milestone amongst multiple variant launches for domestic and international markets," it added.

Commenting on the achievement, Ford India President and Managing Director Michael Boneham, said: "This world-class manufacturing facility reinforces our intent and commitment to compete with great products and powertrains in all segments."

Ford India Vice-President, Powertrain Operations (PTO) Radhakrishnan Balasundaram who heads the India Engine Plant said the company is confident that the next 100,000 engines will be produced at an even faster pace.

The Chennai engine plant is the first Ford facility to feature a flexible production line manufacturing petrol and diesel engines. It produces five 'Duratec' petrol engine variants and one 'Duratorq' diesel engine variant for Ford vehicles.

The plant has also exported more than one-third of the engines produced to South Africa and Thailand so far.