Mutiple sources have stated that Ford India has met with the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Ms.J.Jayalalitha with an invitation to the launch of the much awaited Urban SUV Ford EcoSport. It is said that the Chief Minister has accepted the invitation and the launch is scheduled sometime in mid February 2013.
There have been innumerable spy shots of the EcoSport without any camouflage floating on the web. The compact SUV which until recently was being spotted only in the outskirts of Chennai now has also been spotted in Cochin. Images of the EcoSport in yellow have been doing the rounds at various automotive forums in India and suffice to say, people have their wallet out already.
The five seater EcoSport has an appreciable ground clearance of 200mm with an approach angle of 25° There’s boot space of 346 litres. Expect the EcoSport to flaunt Ford’s most advanced systems including Microsoft SYNC for smartphone integration and voice control, Hill Climb assist, Keyless start and more.
The 1.0 litre EcoBoost engine will play a pivotal role and will probably be the first engine to power the EcoSport in India. Transmissions on offer with the 1.0 litre EcoBoost will be the IB5 five speed manual box seen in the new Fiesta and though the possibility is slim, maybe even the six speed MMT6 for the AWD variant. The 1.5 L Ti-VCT which we first experienced on the all new Fiesta will also be available and play the crucial role of powering the automatic variant which will have the much loved DPS6 PowerShift Automatic transmission box. An in depth look at the various Fords powered by the 1.0 litre EcoBoost shows that there hasn’t been an instance of the 1.0 litre EcoBoost delivering power to a DPS6 PowerShift box, so expect the 1.5 L to power the automatic variant.
We’ve said this before and we say it again, we believe the 1.5 L Duratorq diesel TDCI I-4 will give way for a brand new diesel mill that reflects the sporty attitude of the EcoBoost! At an event celebrating Ford India’s milestone of assembling 400,000 engines in the Chennai plant, Michael Boneham, President & Managing Director, Ford India had two important announcements with regard to the EcoSport. One, was that the EcoSport would be assembled here for the export markets too, second being that while there will be the petrol 1.0 L EcoBoost engine, there will also be a diesel variant, the details of which he did not want to divulge at the time. He pointed out in a lighter vein that he needed to save at least some details for the actual launch event.
Our sources also claim that the petrol variants will be launched first and the diesel mill will follow later, which we belive supports our claims of a new diesel mill.
Pricing has been a topic of hot debate everywhere and there seem to be a multitude of factors, more than one would expect.
While the sub 4 metre length makes the EcoSport eligible for excise duty cuts, this is applicable only for the 1.0 litre EcoBoost and the diesel mill variants. The supposed base variant of the EcoSport which is expected to be powered by the 1.5 L Ti-VCT engine through the five speed manual transmission, will be denied excise duty benefits ( petrol engines capped at 1.2 litres displacement for eligibility) which plays havoc in any pricing estimate.
An interesting discussion is on at popular automotive forum Team-Bhp.com
1.5L petrol MT
1.0L Ecoboost (1.5 MT + 50K/-)
1.5L petrol AT (Ecoboost + 25K/-)
1.5L diesel (1.5 AT + 25/-)
Originally Posted at Team-Bhp.com by swiftnfurious
A pretty good estimate we think, but for the positioning of the 1.5 L AT and the diesel. Will the diesel with its excise benefits be priced lower than the 1.5 L AT? There’s a good probability that it might after all be so.
Sources: MotorVikatan, Team-Bhp