New Delhi: Ford Motor India has said that it is mulling both petrol and diesel variants for its India small car plan, which it said was on schedule for a 2010 roll out

Michael Boneham, president of Ford India said that the company is working to enhance its market share and will be investing $500 million for the small car plan and for manufacturing engines. Ford plans to introduce a range of new vehicles to reverse its declining sales trends, over the coming six to eight month period.

Ford's sales in India dropped 22 per cent during the last fiscal, closing at 30,962 units on account of heated competition in the segments where it operates. The drop comes at a time when cars and SUVs grew 12 per cent at around 1.5 million units.

Talking about the small car project, Boneham said that the car would be engineered for Indian conditions, and that the company was keeping options open for both petrol and diesel variants. He was speaking at the launch of the new variants of Ford's popular sedan Fiesta.

Ford had replaced the popular 1400cc petrol variant of the Fiesta with a more powerful 1600cc engine, after which the government imposed additional excise duty of Rs15,000 on cars with engines in the 1500cc – 1900cc range. Boneham said that besides taking Ford by surprise, the government's decision ''does make things difficult''.

He disclosed that Ford was considering the idea of introducing eco-friendly vehicles that use alternative fuels or hybrid cars into the Indian market, saying that it would ''it is sensible for us to look at all options'' in the face of rising oil prices.

Ford's small car will mark its entry into the mainstream segment in India, as small cars comprise the bulk of all cars sold in the country. The car will help Ford compete with market leader Maruti Suzuki, and the number two Hyundai Motor Co., both of which have diverse offerings in the small car segment.

Car sales in India are forecast to multiply threefold to three million units by 2015, and cars with engine capacities between 0.8-litres to 1.6-litres make up 75 per cent of cars sold in India presently.

A market of that size has led Ford rivals General Motors Corp. and Honda Motor Co., both of whom are present in India but do not yet sell small cars, to announce plans to enter this segment.

As part of the $500-million investment, Ford will augument capacity at its plant near Chennai to 250,000 engines and 200,000 cars over the coming two years, up from the existing 50,000 engines and 100,000 cars.

Ford presently makes and sells the Fiesta, the Ikon and the Ford Fusion cars, and the Ford Endeavour sport- utility vehicle in India.

The company launched new variants of its Fiesta sedan, with a 1.6 petrol and a 1.4 turbodiesel engine configuration, starting at Rs6.2 lakh and going up to Rs7.15 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The new Ford Fiesta model range includes three petrol variants – 1.6 EXI, 1.6 ZXI and 1.6 SXI – and three turbodiesel variants – 1.4 EXI, 1.4 ZXI and 1.4 SXI.

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