As Ford has announced its India exit, taking some time to recall all the great time I had with ford cars in India. I never owned a ford but I was part of few of their media events and I have rented and driven many ford cars.
2009 Ooty trip with Ford Fiesta rented from Car Club in Bengaluru and had a great 3 day trip with friends.
2010: Ford Figo Discover Smart drive:
Ford had organized a discovery smart drive- I was part of this program for a day. Visited Bengaluru, met the team and returned.
Details here
2012 Ford Driving Skills for life
Took part in a workshop conducted by Ford to boost road safety and learnt a lot of useful tips.
Read more here2013: Ford Ecosport launch in Goa: I was part of Ford Ecosport Media drive in Goa, during which they had invited several bloggers including me. We drove it on the ghats of Goa and had great time. Detailed review here.
My article about ecosport in Vijaya Next
Apparently in this drive one of the driver crashed the ecosport, triggered automated call to emergency helpline and survived the crash.
Had great time off-roading or viewing off-roading in
Vishnu's Ford Endeavor. I couldn't attend another ford offroading event due to some conflicting plans.
Ford made good cars, but they couldn't crack Indian market- consumers are price sensitive, need low maintenance and India was a volume game. Ecosport was huge success for Ford but almost a decade they didn't launch any new products or give good upgrades. There was nothing between Ecosport and endeavor (14 to 40 lakhs range) to compete with Creta and the likes. Figo was getting outdated, no EVs, No utility vehicles etc.
Ford had many good things- they introduced idea of compact SUV with ecosport, 1 liter ecoboost engine was a new thing, with Fiesta they launched 10 year sealed for life automatic gearbox and more.
Globally Ford had several models running very well- F-150 pickup trucks, bronco offroad beasts and so on but Ford didn't bring them to India. Nissan could revive its India survival with Magnite.
Toyota is managing with Maruti rebadged cars, VW group is also surviving without a large portfolio, but ford couldn't work it out.
What next?
Customers of Ford will face same situation what Chevy Beat, Captiva, Sail and Enjoy customers are facing. Shortage of spares, non availability of service and poor resale value. Ford says it will continue with CBU route but with 100% tax, it won't be viable for long. Let us see and hope for Ford's turnaround and reentry into India in future.
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