#Ford Mobility Challenge Series

Ford today announced the launch of its Innovate Mobility Challenge Series, inviting the developer and ‘maker’ communities to come together to find innovative mobility solutions in eight different locations around the world.

The worldwide challenges will kick off on July 15 in Lisbon, Portugal, Los Angeles, United States, and Mumbai, India, before moving on to Delhi and the Chennai region in India, Shanghai, China, Johannesburg, South Africa, and a countrywide challenge in Argentina.

“Reaching out to local stakeholders lets Ford more effectively address the diverse mobility challenges around the world,” said Paul Mascarenas, Ford’s chief technical officer and vice president, Research and Innovation. “Launching our Innovate Mobility Challenge Series in eight different regions will bring global and local players together in the pursuit of one goal, which is a smarter and more efficient transportation network for the future.”

For each competition, Ford will partner with local authorities and experts to address different issues in each location. The competitions will be judged by a panel of Ford executives involved in researching mobility solutions, as well as by local experts selected for each competition. For full details on all the challenges, visit the Innovate Mobility Challenge Series landing page, fordsvl.com/innovatemobility.

Ford Expands Sales and Service Footprint to 304 Facilities across 164 Cities

Committed to elevate the brand and ownership experience, Ford India today augmented its sales and service network across India.
 The newly inaugurated facilities comprise of several 3S (Sales, Service and Spares), Sales Only, Service Only, Extended Sales and Service Outlets along with Quick Lane facilities.

 Ford’s 2014 line up of smart, safe and class-leading fuel-efficient products along with a host of unique after-sales services will be offered to customers through the sales and service network.

“One of our key priorities is to make the Ford brand even more accessible to new customers across India. With a growing footprint of 304 sales and service facilities in 164 cities, we are making it convenient for customers to experience and enjoy our great brand,” said Nigel Harris, president, Ford India.

The facilities are built to new Brand@Retail guidelines to deliver a truly world class, and positive purchase experience, especially for several first time buyers across tier 2-4 markets.

Ford India in its commitment to take the brand closer to its customers and offer greater convenience inaugurated several new outlets including facilities in Faridabad, Noida, Sriganaganagar and Jhansi in the Northern region; Shillong and  Dimapur in the East; Hosur, Kochi in the South; and  Sanand, Raipur, Nashik, Chandrapur and Panvel in the Western region to name a few.

 Besides the network expansion, Ford’s superior engineering of long-lasting schedule maintenance parts compared to competitors will help in enhancing ownership experience.

With the launch of ‘Happy Pocket Service’, Ford is redefining ownership experience and offers extremely competitive and highly transparent ‘fixed’ pricing on scheduled service costs starting at Rs. 2,199. Performed with genuine Ford parts, tools and equipment by Ford-trained technician across state of the art service network, Ford ‘Happy Pocket Service’ is among the price leaders for scheduled service and will offer Ford owners incredible value for money and peace of mind.

Demonstrating its commitment to go further in efforts for greater customer convenience, Ford India inaugurated two new Quick Lane Service centres in Nashik and Kochi enhancing its sales and service quality. With a strong customer focus aimed at improving customer service experience, Quick Lane considerably reduces the waiting period during service requirements. Featuring extended operating hours on workdays and Saturdays it provides a faster turnaround time, increasing customer convenience and satisfaction.

Ford continues to offer several customer focused initiatives such as parts at sub assembly levels for repairs, pan-India Roadside Assistance, 90 minute-Quick Service Bays, Mobile Service Vans, Vehicle report card and Quick Lane.

 “By opening new dealerships and service facilities to offering affordable spares and innovative after-sales service initiatives like Happy Pocket service, we are committed to go further in enhancing the ownership experience and offer peace of mind and convenience to our customers in the region,” concluded Nigel Harris.


About Ford in India
Established in 1995, Ford India is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader. Ford India manufactures and distributes automobiles and engines made at its modern integrated manufacturing facilities at Maraimalai Nagar, near Chennai. The company’s models include the Ford Figo, Ford Fiesta, Ford Classic, Ford Endeavour, and the Ford EcoSport. Ford’s operations in the country also include Global Business Services with offices in Chennai, Coimbatore and Gurgaon that provides support to nearly every Ford location around the world in the areas of IT, Engineering, Finance and Accounting, Automotive Financing, Marketing Sales and Service, Analytics, and Purchasing. Ford’s businesses in India employ 11,500 hard-working, dedicated men and women. For more information, visit www.india.ford.com

Ford Showcases SYNC® AppLink™

Did you ever wish you could stream Internet radio, listen to songs, cricket scores, traffic updates, search for restaurants, hotels and more without fumbling through phone menus while driving? Look no further!


With the introduction of SYNC® AppLink™ at the Mobile Developer Summit 2013 in Bangalore, Ford is all set to revolutionize the in-car experience for customers in India.

Another example of Ford going further on democratizing advanced technology, SYNC® AppLink™ will strengthen Ford’s technology footprint in India and reinforce its position as a leader in innovative, interactive features for vehicles.



SYNC® AppLink™ allows greater communication between smartphone apps and AppLink-equipped vehicles through voice commands and will be launched in India in 2014.



“We are excited about bringing SYNC® AppLink™ to India and will offer industry-exclusive voice control technology for smartphone apps thereby providing drivers the convenience to access content and information while on-the-go. SYNC® AppLink™ is an exciting addition to Ford’s class leading connectivity technology and goes further in personalizing the in-car experience.” says David Huang, senior manager at Ford Asia Pacific’s Technology and Business Development, Connected Services and keynote speaker at Mobile Developer Summit 2013.



With Ford SYNC® AppLink™, customers can control applications on their smartphones from the driver’s seat using voice controls through the Ford SYNC voice activated connectivity system.



SYNC® AppLink™ will allow greater integration with a range of smartphone apps. The platform is planned to be introduced in India with ESPNcricinfo, MapmyIndia, burrp!, Glympse, TuneIn Radio while encouraging app developers to come up and add new applications.

“India today has more than 65 million smartphone users who want to stay connected wherever they are. Keeping them in mind, Ford has been driving consumer focused innovation in automotive technology. The journey, which started with the introduction of Bluetooth connectivity in Ford Figo, has gone on to introduce the first in segment Voice Control in the Global Fiesta and the world class SYNC® technology in Ford EcoSport. With every step, we have allowed seamless connectivity, entertainment and convenience and are excited to take it forward with SYNC® AppLink™ keeping our customers in mind.” Vinay Piparsania, executive director, Marketing, Sales and Service said.



With its presence as the only automobile manufacturer at Mobile Developer Summit in Bangalore, Ford is reaching out to the mobile developer community to develop market specific apps in India and globally.



Undertaken through its Global Developer Program, Ford will invite software developers to create voice-activated mobile app experiences for Ford vehicles. The information to learn about the AppLink application programming interface (API) will be available on the Developer Program website, http://developer.ford.com. The developer site features online forums to discuss app development and related issues. Once submitted to Ford, an app is thoroughly tested and reviewed for usability and suitability for Ford AppLink-enabled vehicles. After Ford works out a distribution license with the developer, the app can be released to customers.



“Our participation at Mobile Developer Summit in Bangalore highlights that we are a developer-focused company. We understand that a vibrant app ecosystem is essential to the success of a platform for both users and developers. At Ford, we’re constantly looking to partner with developers aimed to research and reshape the role of the automobile to add value for our customers,” concluded David Huang.



Ford has set the benchmark for in-car connectivity systems with SYNC® powered by Microsoft now in more than 7 million vehicles with the forecast to reach an additional 9 million new customers around the world by 2015. Developers working with SYNC® AppLink™ will be able to create apps across a wide spectrum of categories to reach this growing base of Ford owners.


About Ford in India

Established in 1995, Ford India is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader. Ford India manufactures and distributes automobiles and engines made at its modern integrated manufacturing facilities at Maraimalai Nagar, near Chennai. The company’s models include the Figo, Fiesta, Classic, Endeavour, and the most recently launched EcoSport.



Ford’s operations in the country also include Global Business Services, comprised of Ford Business Services Center and Ford Technology Services India. Located in Chennai, New Delhi and Coimbatore, these units support Ford globally in the areas of IT, accounting and finance, financial services and automotive operations support, global analytics and engineering services. Ford’s businesses in India employ 11,500 hard-working, dedicated men and women.For more information, visit www.india.ford.com