The EcoSport crossover will be the first vehicle Ford Motor Co. imports from India, the latest sign of that country's importance to the Blue Oval.
The automaker has been in India since 1995, and has plants in Chennai and Sanand.
Ford said Nov. 8 that it will invest $195 million and create 3,000 jobs over the next five years for a new technology and business center in Chennai that will rival only its Dearborn campus in size.
The EcoSport will be made in an 830,000-square-foot plant nearby. Ford ships vehicles and engines to 100 markets around the world from the Chennai plant, but this is the first time one will come stateside.
"Just as we import this vehicle from India, we're exporting the Explorer, made at Chicago, to 100 countries around the world," Ford CEO Mark Fields told Automotive News. "I think that this is what we do as a successful, global carmaker with our home in the U.S."
Ford is no stranger to importing and exporting vehicles across the globe. The Fusion, made in Mexico, and Transit Connect, made in Spain, are both shipped to the U.S. The Focus RS, which Ford brought to North America for the first time earlier this year, is built in Germany.
Among its exports, Ford most notably started selling Mustangs globally for the first time in 2015.
"If the launch is well executed when it gets here, people don't really care for the most part where it comes from," said Karl Brauer, senior analyst for AutoTrader and Kelley Blue Book.
