Ziona Chana from Baktawang, Mizoram, India, has 39 wives, 94 children, 14-daughters-in-law and 33 grandchildren. They all live in a 100-room-mansion. His wives take it in turns to share his bed and it takes 30 whole chickens to make a dinner.
Ford's India subdivision announced today that it sold 71,347 units from January 1 until July 31, which corresponds to a 45% increase compared to the same period of 2010 when it delivered 49,131 units.
The Detroit firm wants to further increase its presence in the country and has announced the signing of an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the State of Gujarat to invest approximately $1 billion to build two new plants in addition to the one in Chennai, for vehicle and engine manufacturing on a 460-acre site in Sanand.
“These are exciting times for Ford in India,” said Michael Boneham, president and managing director of Ford India. “We are investing in the future and reinforcing our long-term commitment to India by building two new plants in Gujarat and by adding the new Fiesta to our portfolio. The new Fiesta is the first of eight new vehicles we will bring to India by mid-decade”.
Ford India was established in 1995 and is owned by Ford Motor Company. Until now it operates one factory in Maraimalai Nagar, near Chennai, which produces the Figo, the Fiesta Classic, the Endeavour and the new Fiesta which was launched in April this year.
The new small car will be a little larger than the low-cost Etios that is sold in India. A 1.5-liter gasoline engine will power it and prices are expected to begin from under 1 million yen (approximately US$12,853).
Toyota aims to keep the manufacturing costs of its new China-built small car as low as possible by using many parts from the Etios and is willing to spend some 40 billion yen for the local production of the model at a rate of 200,000 units per year.
The Japanese company wants to raise its 5% market share in the Chinese market by launching the new car with its two local joint ventures, China FAW Group and Guangzhou Automobile Group.
It also plans to more than double the production of the Etios in India, from the current number of 80,000 units to 190,000 by the end of 2013. In addition, it intends to produce another low-cost car in Brazil starting from the second half of 2012, at an annual rate of 70,000 units, as well as manufacturing low-priced cars in Indonesia.
