Ford driving back to India? Tamil Nadu CM holds talks with company
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Chennai: Is Ford coming back to India? Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin met with Ford officials in the US on Wednesday and discussed the outlines of Ford’s return to Tamil Nadu. In a tweet, the CM announced: "Had a very engaging discussion with the team from Ford Motors. Explored the feasibility of renewing Ford’s three decade partnership with Tamil Nadu, to again Make in Tamil Nadu for the world."

Ford has been having discussions with the state govt for more than six months now and sources say is finally close to taking a call about their India plans as well as what to do with the Maraimalainagar plant. On Sept 10, the CM met with senior executives from Ford and IT Serve Alliance in Chicago to discuss new business investments in Tamil Nadu.

Stalin has urged the company to resume automobile production in Tamil Nadu and expand their global technology centre in Chennai. "He also extended an invitation to senior executives of IT Serve Alliance, a major consortium of IT service companies for small and medium businesses in the US, to make new investments in Tamil Nadu," a govt statement said. The meeting included Ford's international govt affairs president K Hart, VP IMG Matthew Kotlowski, Ford India director (govt affairs) Shripad Bhat and other senior officials.


According to sources in the TN govt, Ford's India 2.0 plan would likely include a combination of manufacturing for exports and assembly for the local market. The company may be considering using the Maraimalainagar plant primarily as an export oriented unit to begin with. The plant will likely assemble EVs for the south east Asian market.


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