It wasn’t an ordinary ride. And it wasn’t an ordinary car. When Michael Boneham drove off in a brand new Fiesta from our Chennai factory on May 5, 2010, he was driving away in a very special car. It was the 100,000th Fiesta to come off the line in our Chennai manufacturing facility.

Boneham was justifiably proud of the achievement. “The event marks a new milestone for us,” he said. “Ford Fiesta continues to make us feel proud and is a significant product in our portfolio. The popularity of the Fiesta testifies that more and more customers have been reassured by its quality, features and performance.”

Title: Michael Boneham; Sandip, Exec. Director, Operations; Nigel Wark, Exec. Director, Marketing, Sales & Service and Ram Ramanathan, GM-Vehicle Quality with the 100,0000 Fiesta.

The Fiesta is a significant car for Ford in India in many ways. “The Fiesta has helped to positively shift consumer and dealer perception of Ford cars and added emotional appeal to its rationale strengths,” says Vinothkumar. “It has helped Ford create a strong imagery in the premium B segment and will continue to grab attention among the target consumers for many years.”

Title: Michael Boneham president and managing director, Ford India and Ford India employees give the 100,000th Fiesta a big thumbs up.

The six-figure mark is just another milestone in Fiesta’s successful run on the India roads since its launch. The premium sedan has won rave reviews and coveted awards during its 5-year journey. The special edition Fiesta 1.6 S was adjudged the Best Drivers’ Car amongst top 10 cars by Formula-1 driver Narain Karthikeyan in 2008. Fiesta was ranked No. 1 in ‘Total Customer Satisfaction in the Diesel Midsize Segment’ in the TNS Automotive 2009-TCS Study.

Title: 100,000th Ford Fiesta

While these awards mean a lot to us, what truly motivates us is the appreciation and support of those who drive and ride in the Fiesta. People like Anoop Jain. Here’s what he had to say: “Ford Fiesta has been an excellent experience for me and my family in terms of the driving dynamics. There is no comparison with Ford Fiesta when it comes to safety and experiencing the delight of driving. I have booked the new Figo as well, as my experience with Ford cars has been an amazing one.”

Title: Employees celebrating 100,000th Fiesta roll-out.

Or someone like Sandeep Gulati, whose favourite weekend companion, apart from his family, is the Fiesta. “Ford Fiesta has always been an amazing driving experience to the hill stations like Nainital where the roads are rough and bumpy. Fiesta makes the overall drive experience a very smooth and pleasant one,” he says.

Such words are a constant source of inspiration to all of us at Ford. Go Fiesta!

The Ford Figo, which we unveiled last month, garnered much attention in India and around the world. From the common man to the world’s leading news publications — everyone is talking about it. For this fabulous new car, we have a fabulous factory — our rejuvenated integrated manufacturing plant in Maraimalai Nagar, Chennai.

The plant has undergone a comprehensive transformation in the past 21 months. This makeover is part of a $500 million investment, and has shaped the factory into an expanded and state-of-the-art automobile manufacturing facility. And why not? After all, the plant is readying for volume production of the Ford Figo. What’s more, the new facility is poised to become a strategic production hub for the Ford Motor Company.

The plant was originally set up in 1999 with a manufacturing capacity of 100,000 vehicles a year.  Post-expansion, the capacity has doubled to 200,000 units. The manufacturing footprint will also house a new engine manufacturing facility to make Ford India a production hub for low-displacement engines, coming up to an installed capacity 250,000 units, due next year. We have enlarged the plant complex from 250 to 353 acres, with 60 percent of built-up area. The remaining acreage comprises lawns and a green belt.

Here’s what else has changed at our plant:

• We move from manual assembly to 30 percent automated assembly, thanks to a flexible body shop that can produce different types of car bodies on one line
• There’s a new paint line featuring the high-tech three-wet high-solids finishing process
• We now have a dedicated testing facility with a 3.2-kilometre quality testing circuit, a squeak-and-rattle testing track for finished vehicles and dynamic water wading test-bed
• New stamping press line with automated crossbar technology
• Extension of the trim and chassis assembly line for flexible assembly of different models.
• New lean manufacturing techniques that are enabled by multiple computer systems, especially useful for build-to-order production of parts and components from the adjacent 35-acre supplier park.

Over the next few posts, we will take you through some of the best features of our plant. Stay tuned!

John Parker, executive vice president, Ford Asia Pacific and Africa made an impassioned speech as he went down memory lane to the time he started Ford in India 12 years ago . He spoke of the significance of the Figo in India and worldwide. “Figo is the foundation stone for the right products that are going to drive our India business forward. So next time we come back, there will be 10,000 people sitting in this room.” And then he challenged us: “When the car rolls out, I want your friends and neighbours who buy it to say, what a great car it is, not just to look at, but what a great car to drive!”

Enjoy the video!

President and CEO Alan Mulally thrilled us when he said, “When you walk into a Ford showroom, you will be able to get every vehicle from there you can dream of,” at the Chennai town hall. “We are going to be best-in-class for every vehicle we make,” he added as 5000 of us from Ford operations in India hung on to every word. And the loud applause resonated with his inspiring assertion, “We are creating a viable Ford together.”

We hope you enjoy the video as much as we enjoyed hearing Mr. Mulally speak!

Alan Mulally and the Ford Figo got a hearty welcome from more than 5,000 Ford employees at our town hall meeting in Chennai last week. We think this was a record audience for a Mulally town hall meeting anywhere in the world!

“Ford India rocks!” were Mr Mulally’s first words, and we responded with thunderous applause and shouts of approval.

Recounting the Ford Figo unveiling to the press a day earlier, Mr Mulally said, “What we shared with the press was that we were developing a new small car and we’re doing it right here in India as part of the Ford team… So what were we really announcing yesterday? That Ford of India was leading the entire Ford Motor Company to bring the latest new Ford product.”

The who’s who of Ford India was at the town hall — Michael Boneham, Ford India president and managing director, John Parker, executive vice president, Ford Motor Company Asia Pacific and Africa, and Joginder Singh, executive director, Global Business Services (GBS).

Mr Boneham told us that Figo will “give us muscle in the heart of the Indian market.” On the other hand, Mr Parker confessed having a tough time controlling his emotions and said the Figo was a dream come true. “I struggled all the years I was here in India to get into this area of the market so this is the culmination of 12 years of dreams for myself as well as for all of you.”

Mr Mulally inspired us when he shared our founder’s dream. “Henry Ford’s vision was that the Ford Motor Company would operate in every country in which they sold vehicles,”  he said. “Because his dream was that not only would you get the finest vehicles in the world but you’d get a chance to work for the Ford Motor Company at the same time.”

We all got a chance to see the newest member of the Ford family at the end of the meeting. As the covers came off the Figo, Mr Mulally said, “Take a deep breath and you’ve just got to enjoy this. This is a very special moment. We’re busy, we’re working hard and we’re going to go right back to work and work hard again, but just take a deep breath and just appreciate everything you have done to get to the place where we’re launching for the world the finest small car.”

Yes — the finest small car — that’s what the Figo will be!