Ford’s Chennai factory rolls out last car

Ford India’s factory in Maraimalai Nagar rolled out its last vehicle, EcoSport, for the export market out of the final assembly Wednesday as the global automobile giant prepares to wind up operations at the facility by the end of July.

Pictures and videos of the last car coming out of the factory, which began its operation in 1996, were shared on social media making several Ford India customers nostalgic. While the export commitments have been completed with this rollout, work related to after-sales parts and sub-assemblies continues at the plant.

Ford was one of the first automobile giants to set up a factory in India after the country opened up its economy in 1991. Besides the Maraimalai Nagar plant, Ford India has another massive manufacturing facility in Sanand in Gujarat which has been sold to Tata Motors. However, Ford India’s efforts to find a buyer for the Maraimalai Nagar plant haven’t yet materialised.

The company had in September 2021 announced its plans to exit the India market after surmounting losses and fixed June 30, 2022 as the last date for production at Maraimalai Nagar. But the employees' protest in June forced the company to extend production by a month.

“The last vehicle rolled out of the final assembly yesterday thus completing the export commitments,” a spokesperson for Ford India told DH. Though the production will end by July 31, 2002, the spokesperson added, the employees will receive their salaries till August 31 to “provide additional time to support the completion of severance discussions with the Union”.

After several rounds of negotiations with the employees union, Ford India has now increased the equivalent average days in the severance package to (an average) of 121 days. “The cumulative amounts for severance components remain subject to a minimum amount of Rs 30 lakhs and a maximum cap of Rs 80 lakhs,” the spokesperson added.

The spokesperson also expressed the hope that the severance negotiations will be concluded successfully by August 31, 2022. The talks between the employees union and Ford India was temporarily suspended after the company made public its plans to make electric vehicles for export markets from its India plants.

However, the company went back on its plans and after which the talks resumed.