Mahindra-Ford Fresh Plea For Import Of Ckd Units

Mahindra-Ford has made a fresh application to the Union government for clearing the import of 26,000 CKD kits for its Escort model. As per conditions of the MoU between Mahindra & Mahindra and Ford, the joint venture company can import upto 26,000 sets of CKD annually. Last year they had imported 10,000 CKD kits and the new application is for 1997-98. Sources say the application is pending before the cabinet for final approval.

Of the 10,000 sets imported, the company has sold 5,000 Escorts, of which 25 per cent were petrol versions. The company, however, did not export any cars produced in the first year of operations as it did not have any export obligations for the period.

 

Mahindra-Ford proposes to sell 12,000 cars by March 1998. The company has recently launched its special value pack model, called `Freedom'. The pack will coincide with the celebrations of the country's 50 years of independence,'' Mahindra-Ford sources said.

The special value pack has a combination of features of all the current models, besides an attractive price, sources added.

The company is selling 2 luxury and 2 regular models in India. The car, a petrol model, is also priced lower, at Rs 4.99 lakh ex-factory. The normal ex-factory price of the petrol Escort is Rs 5.5 lakh. The company has sold 400 of the Escort Freedoms so far.