Ford India will launch its compact sedan Figo Aspire in the second half of the year, top company officials said here on Thursday.

The sub-four-metre sedan will be made at the newly-built Sanand plant in Gujarat, while the company also looks to launch three more models in the next 12 months.

At the inauguration of the plant, Nigel Harris, President and MD, Ford India, said: “The company plans to roll out three new models in the next 12 months. Small cars are a big segment. SUVs are aspiration models, but you will see more small cars and SUVs from Ford.”

Anurag Mehrotra, Executive Director, Marketing Sales & Services, said the Figo Aspire will be launched in the second half of the year. He did not share the price-range for the model.

‘Detroit of India’ Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, who inaugurated the Sanand plant, noted that the region covering Sanand, Hansalpur and Vithalapur is being projected as the Detroit of India attracting investments from global auto makers.

“More than ₹15,000 crore worth of investment has already been committed to create capacity to manufacture 1.25 million passenger vehicles and 3 million two-wheelers in three-four years. An additional investment of ₹15,000 crore is almost certain post 2017-18 from the likes of Maruti and Honda Cars. This will take the capacity to about 2.2 million passenger vehicles in the region in the next six-eight years,” Patel said.

“With the Sanand facility being operational, we are doubling our capacity in India to 4,40,000 vehicles. Having plants in Chennai and Sanand, we expect to triple our export from India,” said Mark Fields, President and CEO, Ford Motor Co, said.

Set up with an investment of $1 billion, the Sanand plant has 19 suppliers at the Vendor Park. It has 95 per cent automation in the body shop , while 437 robots perform assembly operations. The commercial production will begin in a few weeks.

The plant, which has an annual capacity of 2,40,000 vehicles and 2,70,000 engines, is spread across 460 acres and provides employment to 2,500 people directly.

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