Mahindra, Ford start joint marketing programme in India
05 Dec 2018
Mahindra showrooms have started selling Ford cars as well in select locations, as a pilot programme ahead of the launch of their joint venture product. Mahindra is currently selling the Ford EcoSport in select dealerships and the initial results are reported to be encouraging.
Ford and Mahindra announced its new partnership in March to develop new SUVs based on the Mahindra platform as the US manufacturer is struggling to post good sales numbers compared to competitors.
In October this year the companies announced agreements to strengthen the ongoing strategic collaboration. Future developments include Mahindra supplying Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) compliant gasoline engines to Ford. Both companies will also work together to develop connected vehicle solutions.
Mahindra is currently selling Ford cars through its dealerships in areas where Ford doesn’t operate a dealership or an existing dealer hasn’t raked in enough numbers.
Mahindra dealers will also be operating service centres for Ford cars at their dealerships in due course. The development lets Ford leverage Mahindra’s wide reach, especially in small towns and rural areas, and as a consequence, Mahindra dealers would earn additional revenue through sales and service of Ford cars.
Initially, under the pilot project, Mahindra dealers in Tier 4+ towns will sell and/or service Ford cars across 15 towns, according to a Ford India spokesperson.
Ford and Mahindra will also develop a new SUV on a Mahindra platform, and a small electric vehicle. As time goes, Mahindra dealers will sell some of Ford’s future cars that are developed jointly by both automakers through their new Ford showrooms.
Ford and Mahindra cars will be sold side by side at the select 15 dealerships.
In recent months, Mahindra has introduced the new Marazzo and Alturas, and will soon launch S201 aka XUV300.
For November 2018, Mahindra reported sales of 16,188 units, against 16,030 units sold in November 2017 - a 1 per cent sales growth for passenger vehicles.
Ford India’s combined domestic wholesales and exports in November stood at 19,905 vehicles, compared to 27,019 vehicles sold in November 2017 - a 26.32 per cent cumulative sales decline.