Ford Motor Company is in discussions with the Tamil Nadu government about resuming operations at its Maraimalai Nagar plant near Chennai. This move comes nearly two years after Ford ceased its India production, with a focus on catering to the global market.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin met with its senior management at the company’s headquarters in Michigan. During the visit, Stalin advocated for reviving it’s three-decade partnership with the state. “I had a productive discussion with the Ford team about the possibility of rekindling it’s long-standing relationship with Tamil Nadu to once again produce for the global market,” Stalin wrote on X.
The company had announced the closure of its production unit on September 9, 2021, and ceased operations in Chennai by August 2022. Despite this, Chennai has remained a key player in it’s global operations through Ford Business Solutions (FBS), which has been involved in the design and development of major models, including the F-Series, Explorer, Transit, and Ranger.
FBS, with its 12,000 employees at the Global Technology & Business Center in Chennai, is expected to add 3,000 new jobs in the next three years. Chief Minister Stalin also encouraged Ford to expand its global technology center in the state.
During his US visit, Stalin also invited executives from IT Serve Alliance—a consortium of IT service companies for small and medium businesses in the US—to invest in Tamil Nadu. His trip included agreements worth Rs 7,016 crore with 16 global firms in San Francisco and Chicago.
Ford’s previous exit from India was due to significant losses totaling around $2 billion over ten years, despite its popular models like the EcoSport and Endeavour SUVs. The company held less than a 2 percent share of the Indian passenger vehicle market at that time. The meeting also included discussions with Ford’s IMG President K. Hart, VP of International Government Affairs Matthew Kotlowski, and Ford India Director of Government Affairs Sripath Pat, among others.
