India’s Mahindra & Mahindra sells its XUV sports utility vehicle in Europe since late 2012 and is expanding shipments to Latin America. And Korean automaker Hyundai has been shipping Chennai-built cars to Africa for more than five years.
But now France’s Renault is shipping India-built Dusters to Europe. Fiat and Ford are assessing opportunities to export SUVs to Europe, South Africa and Southeast Asia.
Joginder Singh, president and managing director, Ford India, said, “The European equation works well with the EcoSport. We already export the Figo to 38 countries from India. We would look at a similar scale for the SUV.” Industry sources indicated it was planned about 40 per cent of the scheduled annual production of 150,000 units would be sold in foreign markets.
What this means
India may soon become a significant global hub for the manufacturing and assembly of complete automobiles for Korean, European and American carmakers
