In October 2019, Ford and Mahindra signed an agreement to make a venture which will work towards developing and selling cars within the Indian market. While Ford was alleged to move its entire India operations under the JV, owning 49 percent stake within the venture, Mahindra was to possess a controlling 51 percent stake.
Now both the carmakers have mutually agreed to tug the plug on the venture . the choice comes after the passing of the New Year’s Eve “longstop,” or expiration date of a definitive agreement the organizations entered into in October 2019.
This decision is claimed to be the results of the changes within the global business and financial conditions thanks to the covid-19 outbreak globally. Ford says that the virus outbreak has forced both the carmakers to reconsider their capital allocation priorities. Ford also confirmed that it’ll still run its India operations as is but the carmaker is re-evaluating its business across the world , including India.
Ford currently has only six cars in its portfolio: Figo, Aspire, Freestyle, EcoSport, Endeavour and therefore the Mustang. Mahindra has cleared that calling off the JV won’t affect the launch of the Ford mid-size SUV (W605 codenamed), which is predicated on the upcoming second-gen XUV500 (W601). The new XUV500 will likely hit the market within the half-moon of 2021 and therefore the Ford SUV is predicted six to nine months post the XUV500’s launch. Mahindra also will supply its fresh 130PS 1.2-litre T-GDi turbo petrol engine to power the Ford EcoSport soon. These projects are in advanced stages and are a part of an agreement which happened before the dissolved venture . All other projects just like the Marazzo-based Ford MPV and a couple of others are going to be reviewed again within the coming months.
Mahindra has also said that this decision won’t have any impact on its production plan. So, the carmaker will launch the next-gen Scorpio and therefore the next-gen XUV500 in 2021. Mahindra is additionally expected to launch its long-range electric cars in India including the XUV300 electric in 2021.