Ford to make car engines by 2002

On the Indian automobile industry, Spender said the industry has witnessed sharp fluctuations in the last few years. “After a massive growth, the industry crashed for two years due to economic meltdown.”

“Now the industry has picked up and we expect the industry to continue its growth by 10 per cent in the current calender year. I think the era of sharp fluctuations are over and in the next few years the industry’s growth would be quite steady between 8.5 per cent to 10 per cent,” he said.

However, he said the growth would be higher in the mid-sized segment as more consumers will upgrade from the small cars to next higher segment due to new models on offer and cheap financing options. The industry will sell about 70,000 mid-sized car, up from 40,000 last year. Of this, Ford plans to sell about 21,000 Ikons.

Spender said Ford is looking at the options to start exports from this year-end. “With global economies integrating and trade barriers being lifted, every country will have to allow car imports. This would apply to Indian markets also as Indians cannot import cars from abroad at present,” he added.

On the Union budget, Spender said his company has no expectations. “We do not want to raise our hopes very high like last year when nothing happened for the auto industry. If the government cuts taxes on cars, it would stimulate the growth of the industry. As of now, Indians are paying highest taxes while buying a car as compared to other countries,” he said.