Ford Celebrates First Figo Export To South Africa

Ford India President and Managing Director Michael Boneham with Capt. Subhash Kumar Chariman of the Chennai Port Trust flag

The Figo has proven itself to be a volume spinner for Ford in India and it looks like its going to repeat the same story in the overseas markets too.

At a celebration held today at Ford’s Chennai plant, Michael Boneham, president and managing director of Ford India flagged off the first shipment of the Indian built Figo destined for the South African shores.

Speaking at the occasion he said “In addition to being a sales chart topper, the Ford Figo is the first small car to be produced and exported by Ford India and today’s consignment of 1,200 Figos to South Africa is a new exciting development for us.”

“Given the rising demand worldwide for compact vehicles, we plan to accelerate our export strategy to not only enhance our business growth but also to further embellish India’s reputation as a major regional auto manufacturing hub.” he added.

Ford India will export 1.4 liter diesel and petrol version of the Figo to Ford South Africa which will deliver the vehicle to their network of 123 dealership by mid July.

The Figo has generated 24,000 purchase orders for Ford India since its launch in March 2010 and has been the flag bearer of Ford’s sales in India. The company sold a whopping 7,239 units in June 2010, a growth of 267% when compared to June 2009 when it sold 1982 units.

The Figo shipment further extends an export relationship between Ford India and Ford in South Africa. In addition to diesel powertrains, the Ford India manufactured Ford Fiesta continues to be exported to South Africa. In June this year, Ford India also began exporting petrol engines to Thailand.

The petrol engine in question is a 1.6 liter unit with 120 bhp of maximum power and enough performance to blow the competition from Japan. We have let the little birdie out… stay tuned to autoholiks for more!