Ford India, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford Motors Pvt. Ltd., plans to invest $500 million in India It shall invest in setting up a small car manufacturing unit and an engine production facility by 2010. "The investment is part of the company's capacity expansion plans in India," said Nigel Wark, Ford India executive director (marketing, sales and service).

The new engine manufacturing facility shall be constructed next to the existing manufacturing unit in Chennai which shall manufacture both petrol and diesel models for domestic as well as its international models.

The engine manufacturing unit shall cater to demands of engines for all the domestic Ford models in the country. Any excess production would then be exported for overseas demand. However, the annual capacity shall be 250,000 units which shall start its production by 2010.

The annual capacity of the small car manufacturing unit in Chennai shall also be doubled to 200,000 units by 2010. It shall launch its first small car by 2010 but it shall not be pitted against ultra-cheap cars like Nano or Bajaj-Renault car. The company has also recently launched a new variant of Ford Fiesta.