Toyota Fortuner and Ford Endeavour are some of the most popular full-size SUVs currently sold in India. They are both butch looking SUVs which has road presence and are also capable of doing a fair amount of off-roading as well. Just like other car manufacturers, Toyota and Ford are also working on BS6 engines to meet the upcoming emission norms. Reports are now coming that in order to meet the BS6 emission norms both Toyota and Ford might be downsizing their engines to keep the price of the SUVs under check.
Starting with Toyota Fortuner, as this is the most popular SUV in the segment. Toyota has recently launched BS6 variant of their Innova Crysta MPV and the car now gets a 2.4L turbocharged diesel engine instead of the 2.8L turbocharged BS4 one. The petrol variant continues to get the 2.7L inline 4 cylinder engine. A similar approach is expected to be taken in the case of Fortuner as well. The engine of the petrol Fortuner is likely to remain unchanged whereas the diesel engine which is a 2.8L unit is likely to be discontinued and a smaller 2.4L engine is likely to take it’s place. This approach will help Toyota keep the prices for the BS6 Toyota Fortuner in check.
Coming to the Ford, they will also introduce a set of new engines in their Endeavour SUV. The Endeavour is only available with a diesel engine and tuning them to meet the BS6 norms will only result in a huge increase in price of the SUV which in turn will lower the demand in a price sensitive market like ours.
Ford India is likely to introduce a smaller 2.0L bi-turbo diesel engine which will replace the 2.2L turbocharged and 3.2L turbocharged diesel engines that they currently offer. The new twin-turbo 2.0L engine will be capable of producing a maximum of 210 hp and 500 Nm of torque. It will be mated to an all-new 10-speed automatic transmission also.
We expect to see the launch of both Toyota Fortuner and Ford Endeavour BS6 models in the coming months. The price for the SUVs will definitely increase but this idea of downsizing the engine will help them price it competitively. What remains to be seen though is whether the downsized engines prove to be reliable enough in the long term, especially if pushed hard for most part of their lives. What many will be happy about is the higher fuel efficiency that downsizing is expected to deliver.
Also Read: Tata Hexa to make a comeback: 2.2 liter diesel to become BS6 compliant