Two years after ending its production in India, Ford Motor Company is in discussions with the Tamil Nadu government to potentially restart operations at its Maraimalai Nagar plant near Chennai, focusing on exports. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin recently visited Ford’s headquarters in Michigan, where he met with top executives to discuss reviving Ford’s three-decade partnership with the state.
Ford had ceased production at its Chennai facility in August 2022 after announcing the phase-out of its unit in September 2021, due to accumulated losses of around $2 billion over the past decade and a market share of less than 2 percent in India’s passenger vehicle market. Meanwhile, Ford Business Solutions (FBS) in Chennai has been playing a crucial role in the design and development of globally successful Ford models, and it plans to add 3,000 more jobs in the next three years.
During his visit to the U.S., Chief Minister Stalin also invited senior executives from various top global companies, including the IT Serve Alliance, to invest in Tamil Nadu. As part of these efforts, agreements worth Rs 7,016 crore were signed with 16 leading global companies in San Francisco and Chicago to boost investments in the state.