Apr. 23 – Ford plans to expand production of the Figo compact car in its Chennai plant in response to strong consumer demand.
The American car company is planning to add 700 more people to its workforce. “We do need to ramp up production to cope with the increasing demand for Figo and so we are starting a second shift from the end of June at our Chennai plant. This will increase our production capacity of the small car by 30-40 percent,” Ford India President and Managing Director Michael Boneham said in a statement.
Figo’s launch in March was met by enthusiastic demand, with 7,700 unit sold during the first month alone and more than 10,000 bookings made. The Chennai plant has an annual production capacity of up to 200,000 units.
The Figo is competitively priced compared to other brands in the market with the car’s launch coinciding with the opening of more Ford dealerships around the country.
“Within the next three months we will hire another 600-700. Most of them will be diploma holders and fresh passouts and will be employed in the shop floor, but there will be some who will be qualified engineers and employed in the middle rung,” Boneham added. The company currently employs 3,000 people in the country.
