[RavenAvi]

The Ford EcoSport has topped the list of the most exported passenger vehicles from India for the fiscal year 2015-16.

Pic Source

The compact SUV offering from the American auto giant saw 83,325 units being exported in 2015-16, compared to 55,178 exported units in 2014-15. Thus, it dethroned the previous years' exports bestseller, the Nissan Micra, which took up second spot this fiscal year with 75,456 units being exported.

Also, Hyundai Motor India is the only company which has no less than 4 models in the Top 10 exported passenger cars list - the Grand i10, the XCent, the i10 and the Creta.

India's top selling passenger car, the Maruti-Suzuki Alto, is placed 4th in the list.

In line with recent shift in strategy, General Motors' Chevrolet Beat recorded the highest growth of 1631% by shipping 37,082 units in FY16, making it the 6th most exported PV from India.

Despite being the second largest exporter of PVs from India, Maruti Suzuki had only one product among the top 10 exported PVs in FY 2016 while Hyundai had four products in the list. Ford Figo also could not make it to the list.

All three top exporters of PV from India Hyundai, Maruti Suzuki and Nissan saw their exports decline in FY16. Nissan's domestic sales also declined while Hyundai and Maruti saw growth. Overall, passenger vehicle exports grew by 5.24% in FY16 at 653,889 units compared 621,341 units exported in the previous year.

ET

[GTO]

Sucks that Ford can't make the most of such a vibrant market. The EcoSport deserves to sell 6000 - 8000 units in India each month on a consistent basis.

Last month's figures show just how export-focussed Ford has become. Total dispatches = 16,470 cars. Of that, 6,531 were local sales, 9,939 were exports.

A good discussion at this link on Ford India's challenges.

[girishglg]

Great to know that the very same car I own (same color and variant as that in the above picture ) is the most exported but fully agree with GTO's observation that Ford always had and still have a step motherly attitude towards local customers.

One could say that they struggled to meet the initial overwhelming demand due to slow ramp up in production (however this is no excuse as they themselves shot their own foot) but even as time passed by, they did not flood the market with vehicles available on demand till early 2015. By then they had much more competition.

IMO the EcoSport could have easily become the Swift of current times considering that it is nothing more than a premium hatch and a very well built at that with great looks topped up with the rear mounted wheel (love it) but then Ford had other plans such as exports and just jacking up the prices all these years when it was in demand only to slash them when the real competition struck.

No wonder many feel that if it was a Maruti EcoSport the sales charts would be something else, easily over the five digit mark month on month. Anyway one consolation is that we also drive a model which is exported worldwide hence has a modern design and required built to sell in other more developed markets and yes it still lead compared to its nearest competitor the Vitara Brezza in build quality and power parameters (looks being subjective though)

[fiat_tarun]

As a business, it makes more sense for Ford to export than sell locally simply because exports are more profitable. At the same time, I don't think the Ecosport today commands a high waiting period.

My request to Ford India - Please offer the awesome export alloys here as well

[Ricky_63]

Hope it resurges in the Indian market (again)

Very nicely put together vehicle let down by the "indifferent" attitude by the dealers & seems to get little backing from the company. Hope they could learn a thing or two from Hyundai !

[GTO]

Originally Posted by fiat_tarun

As a business, it makes more sense for Ford to export than sell locally simply because exports are more profitable.

I wouldn't agree that exports are more profitable than the local market, for the simple reason that the former is B2B! Any billing to a Ford subsidiary will be at wafer-thin margins.

That said, it doesn't have to be 'either or'. Not like Ford has capacity constraints; in fact, they recently cut production. Ford can very well meet all of its export obligations and still have excess capacity left over for local sales. My problem is, they are just not giving their products the push they deserve. There's no point in building well-engineered cars if the management can't sell them!

[fiat_tarun]

Originally Posted by GTO

I wouldn't agree that exports are more profitable than the local market, for the simple reason that the former is B2B! Any billing to a Ford subsidiary will be at wafer-thin margins....

Well, not really GTO. From my experience in this industry, I have noticed that the manufacturing plant gets the bigger chunk of the margins and the selling plant / location gets a transactional fee, but this is a company specific intercompany policy and can vary.

I agree on the local support their products are being given. The price cut on the Ecosport has led to an increase in demand, but they need to do something for the Figo twins and fast.