US carmaker Ford will roll out its first India-made compact sports utility vehicle EcoSport early next year from its manufacturing facility near here.
Top Ford officials called on Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday to invite her to launch the vehicle scheduled to be rolled out in February or March next year, a state government release said.
Early this year, Ford displayed SUV-EcoSport at the Auto Expo held in New Delhi in January this year.
The production version of the EcoSport doesn’t look much different from the concept model displayed at the Delhi Auto Expo, with the only changes being conventional headlamps and tail lamps instead of LED ones on the concept.
The all-new Ford EcoSport was designed to combine best-in-class design, technology, quality and safety aimed at attracting a new generation of consumers in different global markets. It sports key SUV cues such as the confident stance, command driving position and signature spare wheel mounted on a swing-gate at the rear of the vehicle.
The EcoSport’s hardy character and strong stance give it the appearance of a larger vehicle, while retaining the agility and practicality of a compact car. It features high ground clearance and integrated lower body cladding for robustness.
The windshield is steeply raked, and blacked out B-pillars unify the side glass into one elegant shape, conveying a clean, modern profile, complementing a shape honed in the wind tunnel for efficiency. Modern, oblique headlamps frame a high-mounted trapezoidal grille which gives the vehicle an element of pride and a signature Ford face.
Despite its small capacity and proportions, the engine delivers power and performance that will rival a traditional 1.6-litre petrol engine while emitting less than 140g/km CO2.
The 1.0-litre EcoBoost delivers great low-speed responsiveness, power, torque and smoothness.
An advanced “split cooling” system reduces fuel consumption by warming the engine more quickly and – unique to the 1.0 engine –cast iron has been selected for the block, reducing the amount of energy needed for warm-up by up to 50 percent compared with aluminum.
Ford is bringing its global EcoBoost power train technology to India for the first time in the form of its newest and smallest-ever EcoBoost engine. With only three cylinders and 1.0 litre of displacement, the latest EcoBoost engine will provide fuel-efficient power for the all-new Ford EcoSport.
It will have 120 PS of power and be mated to a five-speed manual transmission, giving the Ford EcoSport a footprint that is small enough for urban driving yet robust enough for a trip out of the city.
Disclaimer: Taken from TOI and other internet sources