In a much-awaited move, the Ford Motor Company has expressed interest to restart manufacturing in Tamil Nadu. The company has submitted a Letter of Intent (LOI) to the State government, outlining its intention to utilise the Chennai plant for manufacturing vehicles for export.

The announcement follows a meeting between the Ford leadership team and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin during his visit to the United States. The strategic move will see the facility repurposed to focus on manufacturing for global markets, as part of the company’s ambitious “Ford+ growth plan”. The company said that further information about the nature of manufacturing and other details will be disclosed in due course.

Nearly three years ago, the American major had announced that it would seize vehicle production in India.

Kay Hart, president, Ford International Markets Group in a Linkedin post on Friday wrote: “I am pleased to share that today we are announcing that we have submitted a Letter of Intent (LOI) to the Government of Tamil Nadu in India, outlining Ford’s intention to utilize our Chennai plant for manufacturing for export.”

She further wrote that the decision follows multiple meetings with the Tamil Nadu government, including one last week with Mr. Stalin during his visit to the United States. “We appreciate their ongoing support as we have explored different options for the plant. This step underscores our ongoing commitment to India as we intend to leverage the manufacturing expertise available in Tamil Nadu to serve new global markets.”

Ms. Hart also said: “For right now, I’m excited that this decision will add to our growing employee base in Chennai; our global Ford Business Solutions team based there is already more than 12,000 strong and we are planning to increase that by another 2,500 to 3,000 team members in the next few years. When you add that with our engine manufacturing team in Sanand and our ongoing customer and dealer support team, India is Ford’s second-largest employee base worldwide.”

Earlier this week, Mr. Stalin after meeting the Ford team in the United States, posted on X: “Had a very engaging discussion with the team from Ford Motors. Explored the feasibility of renewing Ford’s three decade partnership with Tamil Nadu, to again make in Tamil Nadu for the world.”