The wait is finally over and we now know when the best is coming. Well if the compact SUV market is considered there has been a single winner so far with Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza. While it is very important to note that the trend of compact SUV in India was actually started by Ford Ecosport and not Vitara Brezza. And it is high time that Ford relaunched its Ecosport and give a tough competition to Vitara in the form of its new uplifted version of Ecosport.
Ford India has announced that the 2018 EcoSport will be launched in India on November 9, 2017. This brings down the long wait of the buyers who wanted to see its early launch as speculated earlier. It will be interesting to see its offerings against Vitara Brezza and the new kid Tata Nexon which is also doing very good in the market.
Ford Ecosport facelift will be manufactured at Ford India’s Chennai plant and interestingly Ford is also going to export this car to the US market from this make in India plant. The new EcoSport gets a raft of updates, both on the outside as well as the inside. The most notable changes are the new trapezoidal grille, flanked by new headlights with integrated DRLs. The new EcoSport will also feature redesigned front and rear bumpers and a new cover for the spare wheel. The most significant update, however, is the new 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system.
Ford Ecosport facelift was first unveiled at the 2017 LA Motor Show, the Ford Ecosport facelift is all set to make its India debut next month and if reports are to be believed then the Ford India will launch its popular SUV on 9th November 2017.
The new EcoSport is expected to go on sale with two engine options-one petrol and one diesel motor. Ford The new petrol motor, the 1.5-litre, three-cylinder Dragon engine was showcased recently at Ford’s Sanand facility in Gujarat. The engine produces 123PS and 150Nm. The Dragon engine produces 10 per cent more power and 7 per cent more torque. Compared to the outgoing 4-cylinder engine, the Ford 3-cylinder Ti-VCT is 7 per cent more fuel efficient, claims Ford India. The diesel engine will be the tried and tested 1.5 litre TDCi motor that produces 99PS.
Ford EcoSport facelift has been spotted testing many times and will host some major design changes on both exterior and interiors. However, there will not be any change in the overall dimensions of the SUV.
The updated version is believed to have a design language similar to Ford’s other models currently including a large hexagonal grille with horizontal chrome slats. The new Ecosport will also get a fresh design for the headlamp cluster as well as larger fog lamp units compared to the existing model. We also expect the top-variants to get DRLs and six-airbags.
Interiors of Ford Ecosport is expected to be more premium. The SYNC infotainment system will be replaced by a touchscreen infotainment system. Expect the infotainment system to support both Apple Car Play and Google Android auto.
Ford Ecosport will get the all-new 1.5-litre Ti-VCT petrol engine. It will produce an exciting 123 PS of peak power and 150 Nm of torque. Despite being a three-cylinder engine, which is inherently noisier and has more vibrations to report, Ford claims that this engine will have to benchmark NVH levels once in the car.
The 1.0L Ecoboost petrol engine will also be on sale with the same existing 1.5L diesel engine. We expect Ford India to price its new Ecosport aggressively between Rs 6 – 10 lakh (ex-showroom).
Globally, the new Ford Ecosport is likely to be launched in the USA next year and will also be the first model for Ford to be exported to America. Ford’s exports have been climbing constantly over the last year and in the first half of this financial year has been the country’s largest exporter.
Pic – a Titanium S TDCi variant of the new EcoSport spotted in one of the stockyard.
Many a buyer are eagerly waiting for the AWD and if it comes to India, it will be a complete game changer for this segment of car. However if reports are to be believed, Ford may not just introduce AWD in Indian market as of yet.