The Ecosport is the vehicle that started the compact SUV hype in the country. When it was introduced back in 2013, there was such demand for the car that waiting periods shot up to almost an year. The reason behind that was our country’s love for SUVs. Also, not many people want large sized vehicles, however they want the bullying power and the muscle that SUVs have. This made the Ecosport the best choice and since there was no serious competition to it at that time, it managed to do really well. Things have now changed though with the entry of the Vitara Brezza, TUV300 and the Nuvosport. Ford has been seeing drop in sales of the Ecosport and in order to stop that, the all new vehicle will be coming our way next year. The new vehicle made its global debut in America just yesterday.
What’s new?
The new vehicle looks a lot more like the global Ford SUVs on sale. It gets sharper headlamps with LED DRLs, a new fog lamp housing, a new bumper that looks more rugged and a new grill that looks like a smaller version of the one on the Endeavour. Side profile remains the same.
At the back, the first that is noticeable is the lack of the spare wheel mounted on the boot. While this has been missing in the global variant for sometime now, the Indian variant continued to have it. There is a small change in the rear bumper which looks a little bit more rugged now. Yes, the Ecosport does look a lot more rugged than the outgoing version from the outside.
On the inside is where most of the change has happened. Ford has decided to make the insides more luxurious and from the looks of it, they have certainly succeeded in doing so. The steering is the new one from their global product portfolio and is a multi function one. There is now a massive 8″ touch screen which replaces the small SYNC screen. This one too has the SYNC 3 system. In addition to this, the Ecosport will offer Apple Car Play and Android Auto, something that the current one lacks. While the current Ecosport has a cluttered dash with large number of buttons, this one has a more sophisticated look with a touch screen unit replacing all that clutter. What the company has also done is added a few trims in the exterior colour option, like the line on the dash and the surroundings of the air con controller and gear shifter. Overall, the interiors have improved immensely and we cannot wait for them to introduce this in India.
Under the hood, the engines on the US spec variant will differ from what we get in India. While the same 1.0 liter Ecoboost, 1.5 liter TDCi unit and the 1.5 liter petrol unit are expected to continue on the Indian version, the US spec gets the option of a much larger 2.0 liter engine that even comes with the option of 4wd and comes mated to a 6 speed autobox.
The vehicle is expected to reach our shores sometime mid to end next year.