The Indian auto market is apparently not very encouraged by car major Ford’s first offer to India, the Escort. In spite of the Escort being one of the most popular Ford car models worldwide, the US auto major''s Indian subsidiary, Ford India, has been finding it hard to sell the car. Volumes have been low. That''s the reason Ford had to think of another model for India.

Hyped as a model designed and engineered exclusively for India and Indian conditions, the Ikon has received an encouraging response. Ford has now decided to temporarily stop assembling the Escort. The company has already informed its dealers about the decision and has advised them to draw their pending requirements from inventories already built. The company has sold some 15,000 cars in about two and a half years.

Ford India, however, does not accept that Escort has not been popular in India. Ford officials claim it has been a successful product in India as well and the 15,000 units sold testifies to its popularity. Whether one calls it popular or not, the Escort''s relatively high price has kept Indian buyers away from the car. The action is now at the lower end of mid-size cars, where Ikon fits in better.

The decision is not to do away with the Escort, says Ford India managing director Philip Spender. "Everybody is focussed on the Ikon. The car has caught the fancy of the market and has been greeted very positively," he says. Any decision on the Escort will depend on feedback from the market and on consumers’ preference, according to him.

Ford earlier imported completely knocked down kits of the Escort from its European facilities and assembled them at the Mahindras’ plant at Nashik in Maharashtra. Once the company set up its Rs 1,700-crore Maraimalainagar plant near Chennai, the assembling has been shifted there.

The Ikon has received a very good market response. Bookings in the first ten days crossed the 5,000-mark, surpassing even the company’s expectations. Ford India intends to maintain the delivery schedule, and has set a target of 21,000 units in 2000 although the plant has a capacity to make 50,000 to 60,000 cars a year. Given the demand for Ikon''s the Escort has been edged out, perhaps temporarily until production of the new model stabilises.