Ford EcoSport was offered with two engine options in the US – a 1.0-litre 3-cylinder turbo petrol and a 2.0-litre 4-cylinder petrol with AWD
Ford EcoSport will soon be discontinued from North American markets of USA and Canada in the coming months. This is a direct result of the American carmaker shutting down manufacturing operations in India. The country was one of the few manufacturing hubs of the subcompact SUV which catered to consumers of various international markets.
The crossover will continue to remain on sale in North America for the next few months at least till production at Ford’s manufacturing facilities in India continues. It should be noted that production at the company’s facilities in Sanand, Gujarat and Chennai, Tamil Nadu will continue till Q4 2021 and Q2 2022 respectively, only for export purposes.
EcoSport is manufactured at the Chennai-based plant in Tamil Nadu. The company is working hard to ensure that there’s enough inventory of the subcompact UV to get dealers through the majority of the 2022 calendar year in the US. Ford recently announced the restructuring of Indian operations which involved shutting down manufacturing for local market with immediate effect.
EcoSport Facelift Launch Cancelled
Prior to this drastic step taken by Ford, the company had been preparing a facelift of EcoSport which was expected to hit showrooms towards end of this year. Multiple spy shots of the visually updated SUV testing on roads at various locations across the country went viral in recent months.
However, with recent developments, launch of the updated EcoSport stands cancelled. The North American market will continue to receive the model with the current design which will soldier on till inventories run out.
EcoSport first made its debut in India in 2013 and is widely credited for kickstarting one of the most promising segments in the country. The sub-4 metre compact SUV/crossover space today is probably the most popular segment in the Indian passenger vehicle market. EcoSport made its debut in North America in November 2016 at the Los Angeles Auto Show. However, it went on sale in early 2018.
Sale in Europe to continue
The crossover generated decent sales numbers in the US market with 54,348 units, 67,708 units and 60,544 units retailed in 2018, 2019 and 2020 respectively. Sales of EcoSport dipped by 22.3 percent on a YoY basis since the start of this year. The American brand has sold 32,697 units of the UV in its home market in the first eight months of 2021.
The Blue Oval brand will continue to offer EcoSport in European markets which is manufactured at the carmaker’s other assembly plant in Craiova, Romania. The European-spec model isn’t homologated for sale in North America, hence won’t be launched in USA and Canada. Ford is hoping to substitute this outgoing subcompact crossover with a pickup truck in the form of Maverick which is offered at a similar price bracket.
