Ford, Nissan, and Volkswagen ship more of their India-manufactured cars to overseas markets than what they sell within India.
Michigan-based Ford has two manufacturing units in the country: at Chennai in the southern state of Tamil Nadu and at Sanand in India’s western state of Gujarat. It has overtaken Korea’s Hyundai in Fiscal Year 2018 to become the largest exporter of cars from India.
In the first nine months of the current financial year (from April 2017 – March 2018) Ford shipped over 134,000 units, 12 percent more than the previous year.
For the same period, German auto maker Volkswagen exported more than double the number of units it sold in India, while Japanese car maker Nissan shipped more than 46,000 units to export destinations.
| Company | # Cars Sold in India (Apr – Dec FY ’18) | # Cars Exported (Apr – Dec FY ’18) |
| Ford | 62,554 | 134,575 |
| Nissan | 38,928 | 46,502 |
| Volkswagen | 34,979 | 71,667 |
| GM | Nil | 60,707 |
General Motors decided to stop local sales of its cars in May last year and announced plans to focus exclusively on the export market. The company has shipped over 60,000 cars from India for the same period, and is now the fifth-biggest exporter of cars from the country.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
