Rumours of Resuming Production in India Spark Excitement

The internet has gone berserk after the news of Ford filing a patent for the all-new Endeavour broke the covers. It is reported that Ford has filed a design patent for the exterior of the third-generation Ford Endeavour in India, which made its global debut in 2022 but never arrived at the Indian shores as Ford halted vehicle production in India in 2021. However, the recent patent filing of the new Ford Endeavour in India indicates that Ford is mulling to restart its sales operations in India with the large SUV.

Adding more spark to the fire of rumours of Ford coming back in action is the fact that Ford has also listed a few new job openings with locations such as Chennai according to ACI. With most of the job openings being technical ones, it is believed that Ford is looking out for options to resume vehicle assembly at its manufacturing plant in Chennai. Ford did sell its Sanand plant to Tata Motors in 2022, but the Chennai facility is still there with Ford retaining its ownership. There were rumours that carmakers like MG, VinFast and Tata Motors approached Ford to take over this plant, but nothing of them has happened.

With new speculated job openings for its manufacturing facility in Chennai, Ford is reportedly resuming vehicle production at the plant after a gap of nearly three years. Ford suspended vehicle manufacturing and sales in India in 2021 after reporting losses of over $2 billion since it started operations in India in 1996. However, in 2021, Ford did confirm that it is not quitting India, and only restructuring its business operations in India, which included the abolition of its the-then vehicle lineup, which included models like Figo, Aspire, Freestyle, Ecosport and second-generation Endeavour.

If all these reports are true, Ford will make a comeback to the Indian car market with the all-new third-generation Endeavour sooner than the beginning of 2025. With job openings for the Chennai plant, Ford might be looking at the opportunities of assembling the Endeavour at the facility, which is highly likely given that Ford recently decided not to continue with the decision of conducting talks with JSW for trading off the facility.

It is also possible that Ford might evaluate the CBU route and import the Endeavour from Thailand, which will not require homologation for 2,500 units per year. If this happens, the Endeavour might be significantly expensive than before, but it will still be in the ballpark of higher variants of its main rival Toyota Fortuner, the prices of which have absurdly shot up post the discontinuation of second-generation Endeavour in 2021.

Debuted globally in 2022, the third-generation Ford Endeavour looks more muscular and premium than ever before, with more new features including a full-TFT instrument console, wireless charger, ventilated front seats, larger portrait infotainment screen and ADAS. Globally, the Ford Endeavour is now available with choices of 2.0-litre single-turbo and twin-turbo diesel engines and even a 3.0-litre V6 diesel. However, if the Endeavour comes to India again, expect it to get the 2.0-litre twin-turbo diesel engine this time.

The internet has gone berserk after the news of Ford filing a patent for the all-new Endeavour broke the covers. It is reported that Ford has filed a design patent for the exterior of the third-generation Ford Endeavour in India, which made its global debut in 2022 but never arrived at the Indian shores as Ford halted vehicle production in India in 2021. However, the recent patent filing of the new Ford Endeavour in India indicates that Ford is mulling to restart its sales operations in India with the large SUV.

Adding more spark to the fire of rumours of Ford coming back in action is the fact that Ford has also listed a few new job openings with locations such as Chennai according to ACI. With most of the job openings being technical ones, it is believed that Ford is looking out for options to resume vehicle assembly at its manufacturing plant in Chennai. Ford did sell its Sanand plant to Tata Motors in 2022, but the Chennai facility is still there with Ford retaining its ownership. There were rumours that carmakers like MG, VinFast and Tata Motors approached Ford to take over this plant, but nothing of them has happened.

With new speculated job openings for its manufacturing facility in Chennai, Ford is reportedly resuming vehicle production at the plant after a gap of nearly three years. Ford suspended vehicle manufacturing and sales in India in 2021 after reporting losses of over $2 billion since it started operations in India in 1996. However, in 2021, Ford did confirm that it is not quitting India, and only restructuring its business operations in India, which included the abolition of its the-then vehicle lineup, which included models like Figo, Aspire, Freestyle, Ecosport and second-generation Endeavour.

If all these reports are true, Ford will make a comeback to the Indian car market with the all-new third-generation Endeavour sooner than the beginning of 2025. With job openings for the Chennai plant, Ford might be looking at the opportunities of assembling the Endeavour at the facility, which is highly likely given that Ford recently decided not to continue with the decision of conducting talks with JSW for trading off the facility.

It is also possible that Ford might evaluate the CBU route and import the Endeavour from Thailand, which will not require homologation for 2,500 units per year. If this happens, the Endeavour might be significantly expensive than before, but it will still be in the ballpark of higher variants of its main rival Toyota Fortuner, the prices of which have absurdly shot up post the discontinuation of second-generation Endeavour in 2021.

Debuted globally in 2022, the third-generation Ford Endeavour looks more muscular and premium than ever before, with more new features including a full-TFT instrument console, wireless charger, ventilated front seats, larger portrait infotainment screen and ADAS. Globally, the Ford Endeavour is now available with choices of 2.0-litre single-turbo and twin-turbo diesel engines and even a 3.0-litre V6 diesel. However, if the Endeavour comes to India again, expect it to get the 2.0-litre twin-turbo diesel engine this time.