The Great Ganesha

To compete with Tata’s ~$2,500  small car, Ford is now coming out with its own version in India.

Ford Motor plans to more than double its investment in India to produce a small car for the fast-growing local market and to build an engine manufacturing plant there.

The company is expected to announce on Tuesday that it will increase spending in India by $500 million, raising its total investment to $875 million, as it focuses on making the country a regional hub for small-car manufacturing.  [link]

Since the auto-maker is tanking badly on the U.S. market, it’s now  moving the center of gravity of operations further East.

Ford has been struggling to reduce its reliance on North American markets, where sales are falling sharply, and to increase its presence in Asia’s booming markets.

The new investment follows similar moves made in Thailand and China in the last six months.

Let’s just wait and see what happens. My old Ford clunker ultimately ended up costing me several small cars over its last years. At any rate, let’s have a little token praise to the des from Ford executives, and we’re good to go.

In remarks prepared for a news conference on Tuesday in Chennai, John G. Parker, Ford’s executive vice president for Asia Pacific and Africa, called the India investment a reflection of “the extraordinary potential” of India.

Extraordinary potential, indeed.