Ford Motor Co (F.N) has invested $1 billion in a new plant in western India which will help the automaker triple exports from the country, chief executive Mark Fields told reporters on Thursday.

Ford plans to make India an export hub for compact cars such as the EcoSport, a sub-four meter sports utility vehicle, and the newly launched compact sedan, Ford Figo Aspire, the first car to be produced at the new facility.

The new manufacturing facility in the western state of Gujarat will nearly double the company's installed production capacity in the country to 610,000 engines and 440,000 vehicles a year, Fields said at the launch of the new facility.