Ford Pushes Further Into Asia

MUMBAI, India -- Ford(F) is furthering its push into Asia, announcing plans for eight new vehicles in India and a $350 million investment with partner Mazda in their pickup truck plant in Thailand.

The Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker says Asia will account for 70% of the company's global growth in the next decade, most of it from China and India.

"We have massive expansion across the region," Joe Hinrichs, president of Ford Asia Pacific and Africa, said in an interview Thursday. "We believe the Indian market at the end of the decade will be the third largest auto market in the world behind China and the U.S."

To meet growing demand, Ford said it will launch eight new models in India by the middle of the decade, adding to the $500 million it has already invested in India. The company declined to say how much it plans to spend, but said "investments will be significant."

Hinrichs said the new vehicles will be in India's high-volume, compact car segment where Ford has excelled with its 2010 Figo model, as well as more luxurious segments.

"We'll have different products to broaden our showroom appeal," he said.

Unlike China, where consumers buy all kinds of vehicles, Indians overwhelmingly prefer tiny, affordable cars.

Hinrichs said that would change as Indians get richer and the market matures.

India is at a sweet spot of growth -- what Hinrichs calls the "take-off stage" -- where average incomes in major cities are finally high enough to afford a vehicle. China is ahead, with consumers in secondary cities also able to buy cars.

"It's a broader base and a larger market," he said. "India is going to go through the same cycle."

Ford belatedly stormed India's fast-growing car market in March, with the launch of the Figo, its first made for India compact. In the first 25 weeks, Ford sold over 30,000 Figos, with year-over-year sales tripling in most months and quadrupling in July.

Ford, which began exporting the Figo to South Africa in May, announced plans Thursday to export the car to 50 new markets, including Mexico, North Africa and the Middle East. The first batch of 10,000 should leave India early next year, Hinrichs said.

Ford has no immediate plans to export from India to the U.S. or Europe.

In July, Ford doubled production, to 200,000 units a year, at its factory in India's southern auto hub of Chennai, where it also has an engine plant. Ford is building one new factory in Thailand and two new factories in China, which should open in 2012, Hinrichs said.