Tightly competing small cars like Maruti Swift, Hyundai Grand i10 and Honda Brio will be challenged by Ford’s next generation Figo. The only hatchback from Ford, which has somewhat faded away from competition, will be receiving styling upgrades, a list of new and contemporary features and significant enhancement in interiors as well.
But thats not all, Figo will be given the honour of hosting Ford’s 1.0 litre EcoBoost engine. Producing 125 PS in Ford EcoSport, the engine is expected to be detuned to say, 100 PS, for the Figo, to extract better fuel efficiency.
To compete with upcoming Tata Zest, Maruti Dzire, Hyundai Xcent and Honda Amaze, Ford will launch the Figo sedan, which is similar to the Ford Ka+ unveiled in Brazil. The new Figo sedan, unlike the Ka+, will be a sub-4 metre compact sedan to tap the excise duty benefits in India.
Figo sedan will also eat the hatchback’s 1-litre EcoBoost engine, and also share the diesel engine of new Fiesta. Ford is going to be all about mileage here on, since the diesel mill in Fiesta is retuned for it, and EcoBoost engine will also be tweaked on the same agenda.
The full sized seven seater SUV in question will be a replacement for the ageing Ford Endeavour. There will be notable improvements in this SUV too, like more cabin room, better third row legroom, redecorated interiors and raised handling and braking abilities.
The Endeavour substitute will probably come with same old engine, tweaked for better fuel economy. Five speed manual transmission will do duty in base variant, and compete with segment rivals like Toyota Fortuner, Mahindra Ssangyong Rexton and Mitsubishi Pajero Sport.
A common denominator in the 3 new cars from Ford for next year, will be the new AppLink and SYNC multimedia interface. AppLink will have preinstalled apps like MapMyIndia’s Explore, which helps in finding fuel stations, hotels and restaurants en route. Ford is expected to introduce more apps for AppLink, as it has only two India specific ones now.
Also read – GM to build 3 new cars for Chevrolet India, other emerging markets.
