Outside of America, Ford has had a brilliant run in Europe, especially in the UK. The same success was not reflected in India. Both of Ford’s manufacturing plants have now shut down. The last unit of EcoSport rolled out of Chennai plant back in July 2022.
EcoSport is credited with being the first proper sub 4m compact SUV. There was a plan by Ford to launch a facelifted model for EcoSport. Test mules were spotted on multiple occasions around Chennai. This was Ford’s yet another shot at staying relevant in the Indian market. That said, it never materialised and Ford exited the Indian market.
Thanks to Idumba Kumar running CretiveSRI channel, we now have a walkaround video of the EcoSport with parts from the facelifted EcoSport that never got launched. This particular model has a fully digital instrument cluster too. Interesting isn’t it? Let’s take a look.
Exterior parts showcased in this video are supposedly made by Ford and are not aftermarket hack jobs. This is how Ford intended to sell EcoSport facelifts if they hadn’t exited the Indian market. Since they had announced their exit, these batches of parts were not numbered to avoid confusion and conflict with pre-facelift parts.
Instead, these were declared as scrap and were kept away from Ford’s genuine parts repository meant for general servicing of EcoSport. These parts are sourced by Idumba Kumar from scrap and installed on an EcoSport. This way, he re-created the EcoSport facelift, probably exactly how Ford had intended to. In effect, this is the EcoSport facelift that never got launched.
There are not a lot of changes to speak of. For starters, EcoSport’s front fascia was mostly retained. Except for the lower half of its front bumper. This is where the new L-shaped LED elements are present along with circular fog lamps. These L-shaped DRLs double up as turn indicators too. Previous LED DRLs present in the headlight cluster are retained as is.
The large grille was made even larger with elements running horizontally. Ford intended to offer this design with chrome studs and a chrome surround with lower trims and all-black with Sporty trims. Along with these, there is a new faux skid plate. At the rear, there is a revised LED tail light as well, a very subtle change.
On the inside, there weren’t any changes. This particular model, however, does have some changes. This is aftermarket and was not intended by Ford. Not in India, anyway. This is the fully digital instrument screen from Ford’s ST line for EcoSport sold in Europe, UK and more. This screen lifts the ambiance and is a snug fit as it was designed for EcoSport that was exported.
The main free-standing touchscreen unit gets new software, icon packs and is slightly cleaner-looking than Ford’s Sync 3. At the end of its life cycle, Ford even launched EcoSport SE, without rear tailgate mounted spare wheel. That didn’t work either.