Mahindra along with Ford have announced a new Joint Venture for Indian as well as export markets. As per this agreement, both brands will jointly develop, market & distribute cars in India and other emerging markets. Mahindra will be a 51% controlling stake partner in this joint venture. Ford will hand over their operations in India to Mahindra which also includes assembly plants in Sanand & Chennai along with the personnel. Ford will retain the engine plant operations in Sanand along with the Global Business Services unit, Ford Credit & Ford Smart Mobility.
Mahindra & Ford first announced this strategic alliance in September 2017 and operations for this are expected to begin by mid-2020 if all goes well. Mahindra will be managing all the operations of this joint venture while both brands will jointly make key decisions. Ford cars will still be built for India and exported from India. Both brands however will independently retail their range of cars through Mahindra & Ford dealerships respectively.
Through this new alliance, 3 new utility vehicles for Ford are expected to be in development starting with a new midsize SUV which will share platform and engines with Mahindra. In this case, we are expecting a sibling to the Mahindra XUV500. Both brands will also jointly work on development of electric vehicles for emerging markets. Through Ford’s distribution network in other emerging markets, Mahindra products will also be sold.
Ford first entered the Indian market in 1995 and claims that India is the 3rd largest employee base for the American brand globally. Still, sales have not really skyrocketed in more than 2 decades, and it was time to get into such alliance for having a better business. Expect cars from this joint venture to be displayed at the 2022 Auto Expo in India.