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Ford to sell 25,000 Ikons in India in 2000

Ford India Limited, or FIL, has targetted to sell around 25,000 units of its josh machine Ikon in India in the 2000 calendar year, a senior company official said.

Of this, around 10,000 units would be sold in the northern region, Ford India Manager (Sales) Northern India, Sunil Mittal, said.

The company, he said, is also looking at introducing its two concept cars -- Ikon GT and Ikoncept -- in the Indian market as limited edition versions.

''We are currently taking the concept cars to our 37 sales outlets across the country for gauging customer response to the cars. Once we get the feedback, we will be chalking out a time schedule and price positioning for the cars and then plan to launch these cars commercially,'' he said.

The cars, he said, are likely to be introduced as limited editions available to select customers.

Ikon GT and Ikoncept are two designer cars on the Ford Ikon platform, designed by renowned car designer Dilip Chabbria.

Meanwhile, Ford India is working towards increasing its production at the Madras plant from 80 cars a day now to 100 cars a day by the end of this month. With this, the company intends to bring down the waiting period on its cars.

Ford to price Ikon 1.3 EXi at Rs 550,000

FIL is planning to price its next offering -- Ford Ikon 1.3 EXi -- in the Rs 550,000 bracket.

The car would be launched in July and would be positioned between the Ford Ikon 1.3 CLXi and 1.6 ZXi, senior company officials said.

The Ikon 1.3 CLXi petrol model is now priced at Rs 515,240, while the 1.6 ZXi petrol is priced at Rs 629,321 and the 1.8 ZXi diesel at Rs 708,977 (all prices ex-showroom Delhi).

Meanwhile, the company had recently announced a hike in the price tag of all its Ikon variants by Rs 8,000-9,000 following certain upgradations that have been carried out on the models. The revised prices would come into effect from July 1, 2000.

UNI

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