Ford to hike Figo price from next week

Car maker Ford India today said it will be increasing the price of its latest small car Figo on account of rising input cost by next week.

The company, however, has not specified by how much the price of the car, which was launched in March with at price of 3.5 lakh to Rs 4.48 lakh, will be hiked.

"We can't defy gravity for ever. The general industry cost is rising, steel prices are up, components are costlier and there has also been an increase in transport cost," Ford India Executive Director (Marketing, Sales and Services) Nigel Wark told PTI.

He said the price rise will be effective from June 1 but the company is still working on the final quantum.

"We are still fine tuning the price. It will, however, not be a major hike and well below two per cent," Wark said.

Figo made its global debut in India in the first half of March and the car is available with a 1.2 litre petrol and a 1.4 litre diesel engines. While the entry-level version of the petrol variant comes at Rs 3.5 lakh, the diesel one is priced at Rs 4.48 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).
    
Ford India has received over 20,000 bookings for the car since last two and half months and the waiting period for its is currently four weeks.
    
Wark said the small car, which was unveiled last year during the visit of Ford Motor Company President and CEO Alan Mulally, will be the company's mainstay in the market here for the years to come.
    
"The success of the car has been stupendous. A brand new product with a brand new factory is always challenging but we are already past the 20,000 units mark in booking and our effort will be to continue the momentum in the months to come," Wark said.
    
The company had earlier announced plans to start a second shift at its Chennai plant from July to cope with the rising demand for Figo. It had also said 700 new employees, including shop floor staff and engineers, are to hired by June to deal with the need for manpower increase.
    
Currently, the company manufactures over 6,000 units of the Figo monthly at the facility. Wark said the second shift will increase capacity "significantly" but did not give details.
    
"We have already reduced the waiting period for the car from six weeks to four weeks and effort continues to make the waiting period come down further," Wark said.
    
He added that work is on to start exporting the car to South Africa and some of the increase in the output at the Chennai plant will be for that purpose also. PTI PPB RKL AMK