Report - Ford EcoSport waiting period set to increase due to production constraints

The waiting period for Ford India's hot-seller, the EcoSport, is set to increase even further than the current eight months, according to Autocar Professional.

Made at Ford India's Chennai facility (for domestic and export demand) on a two shift basis, the company is finding it difficult to run the second shift due to supplier constraints. Some trim and metal parts among others are reportedly hard to come by. The Chennai plant makes about 350 EcoSports in a single shift.

To bring down the waiting period of the EcoSport, Ford is considering adding a third shift at this plant. However, with supply constraints even for a two-shift operation, it may take some time before production is ramped up.

Dealers of Ford India have stopped taking bookings for certain variants of the EcoSport, especially the automatic transmission variant (which is offered in a single trim level) and the top-end Titanium variant.

To add to the woes, Ford India announced two price hikes for the crossover within six months of its launch, and a price protection was not offered to its customers. Since its launch in June last year, the top-end EcoSport diesel is costlier by INR 75,000.

The EcoSport is currently made at four locations worldwide - Chennai (India), Camacari (Brazil), Chongqing (China) and Rayong (Thailand).

[Source - Autocar Professional]