Shortly after it launched the urban sport utility vehicle (SUV) EcoSport, a few customers called Ford India to say the car was not quiet enough. Worried, the company sent teams to find out what the problem was. The teams drove the vehicles with the customers.
“Being an SUV, the expectation is you can drive through a pothole in the fifth gear at 70 kmph without downing the gear, and he (the customer) wants the car to be quiet. I think wow, this is a huge expectation,” said Tom Chackalackal, Executive Director - Manufacturing, Ford India.
Some buyers, he said, also called to say they heard wind noise while driving the vehicle.
“I sent my team there. They drove the car with them and came back and said, ‘Tom, they were driving at 140 (kmph)’,” he recalled. “And, I was thinking how do you check wind noise at 140?” With newer models, customers’ expectations have also gone up. Apart from testing out the production models at any one of Ford Motor Co’s proving grounds in the US, Australia and Germany, Ford India has a 3.2-km test track at its plant, where it has replicated different Indian road conditions. It has got half-complete concrete roads, pot-holed roads, half bump, big bump, small bump, concrete roads… these serve to test vehicles for squeak and rattle and quietness.
Part of journey
“Every day, 6 per cent of our production goes through what we call a 25-mile drive. We drive it on those tracks for 30 km and after the drive the cars come to the squeak and rattle track and we look for any abnormality in the car,” said Chackalackal in a recent chat at his office in Ford India’s plant at Maraimalainagar, about 45 km south of Chennai. Besides, there is a four-post lift, where driving conditions are simulated, making it easier to check for defects.
It is part of the journey, Chackalackal added. Whenever there is a complaint, technical staff visit the customer and check out the vehicle.
“Some things we hear for the first time,” said Chackalackal. For instance, in Delhi, some customers tend to lower the window glass a bit and switch off the air-conditioner because of the weather. The car has been tested with the AC on. Because of the dry weather in Delhi, dust enters the car in places “which we have never even validated for dust entry.”
“We have to provide further protection to ensure that it doesn’t go wrong even in that (kind of a situation),” he said. It is a learning process — the SUV is a new segment, with a new market and new customers. “There will be things that the vehicle has not been validated for, there will be the odd issue that gives us the opportunity to go and do something,” said Chackalackal.
What is the feedback on the EcoSport? “Overall, the vehicle has been perceived very well,” said Chackalackal. He recalled a recent dealer meeting.
“The feedback was outstanding. They actually stood up and thanked the plant for an outstanding quality car that had been given. The test drive that we gave on the demo units has been good. One of the dealer-principals said his (test drive) car had already clocked 16,000 km and it was still looking brand new.”
It was with the launch of the Figo hatchback in March 2010 that Ford India’s volumes started going up. The company then introduced a second shift at the plant. The EcoSport’s entry into the market, in June 2013, has once again provided a boost to the company’s sales.