Ford Plans Big Tech Center for India

Ford Motor Co. will spend $195 million to open a product development and advanced business systems center in Chennai, India, in 2019.

The 28-acre Global Technology and Business Center will consolidate 9,000 Ford employees currently at six locations in the city. The facility also intends to hire another 3,000 highly-skilled workers over the next five years.

When completed, the campus will be the carmaker’s second-largest concentration of employees after its U.S. headquarters in Dearborn, Mich.

The facility will be Ford’s third Asian tech hub for product development, including advanced mobility vehicles and related services. The complex also will become the company’s second-largest IT operation outside its American headquarters, working on advanced financial analysis, future data analytics and business models for mobility and connected vehicles.

The project signals a sharp reversal for Ford. in September CEO Mark Fields said the company was reevaluating its expansion plans for India because of Ford’s lackluster sales and financial results there. Bloomberg News notes the company has capacity to make 440,000 vehicles per year in India, but is shipping only about 180,000 vehicles overseas.

At the same time, Ford has been able to capture only about 2% of the Indian car market. But the market has resumed strong expansion since July on strong demand for small SUVs. In September the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers said sales are likely to expand 12% in the current fiscal year, double the pace it estimated in June.