'Working with suppliers to reduce waiting time for Ecosport'

In the backdrop of huge demand for its compact Sports Utility Vehicle Ecosport, car major Ford India today said it is working on reducing the waiting period by helping suppliers increase their capacity.
Ford India President Nigel Harris said the company has got orders for about 60,000 units and the waiting period for the EcoSport is around three to six months.
"We have so far delivered 40,000 units. We are helping suppliers increase capacity to meet the demand. The challenge is the material (causing the increase in waiting period)", he told reporters here.
Ford India has invested about USD 142 million at its Maraimalai Nagar facility near here to manufacture the EcoSport. The company manufactures Ford Figo, Classic, Fiesta, Endeavour and other models.

The EcoSport comes with 1.5 litre engine variants and is priced between Rs 6.26 lakh and Rs 9.66 lakh (Ex-showroom Chennai).
Last month Ford India announced a reduction of prices of its vehicles by upto Rs 1.07 lakh across various models after Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced a excise duty cut in the interim Budget.

The price of Ford EcoSport has been reduced by up to Rs 25,947.
Asked about present trends in the domestic car market, he said the industry was going through a temporary slowdown and the company would not revise its plan of launching eight products by 2015.

"(Current industry scenario) It is only temporary as some customers are showing some caution to buy (a car). We are also waiting for the election (to get over) so that there may be more growth (for the industry)," he said.
The company had announced plans to launch eight new products in India by 2015 with a view to tap the growing automobile market and make India an export hub.
Since inception, the Indian subsidiary of Ford Motor Company has invested close to USD one billion to expand its operations.
The company infused USD 500 million in January 2008 to expand vehicle manufacturing capacity in Chennai to produce 200,000 units per year and to set up a new engine plant for domestic and export markets.

Asked about the second manufacturing plant in Gujarat, Harris said it would be ready by this year end and the first product was expected to roll out by next year.