The brand new plant of Ford India in Sanand is going to begin production in a couple of weeks. The Rs 6,000 crore plant is likely to be inaugurated by chief minister Anandiben Patel on either on March 24 or March 25.
This is Ford India’s second plant in India besides Chennai. Once operational, the facility will employ 5,000 people directly and have an initial capacity of manufacturing 2,40,000 cars and 2,70,000 engines a year.
According to officials, the Sanand plant is one of the most automated plant in Asia pacific region. More than 10 vendors have already set up shops near Ford’s plant in Sanand. The company is likely to manufacture a hatchback and a sedan at the Sanand plant. In January this year, Japanese auto giant Suzuki Group announced plans to infuse around Rs 8,500 crore over the next few years to set up three plants at Hansalpur with a total annual capacity of 7,50,000 vehicles. The first plant will commence production by mid-2017, which is being set up at an investment of about Rs 3,000 crore and will have an annual capacity of 2,50,000 units.
Also in the pipeline is the manufacturing facility of Honda Cars India which is likely to come up in Vithalapur in Ahmedabad with an annual capacity of 1 lakh-1.5 lakh cars.
