The EcoSport is one of Ford's most popular models, not only in India but worldwide and the company has unveiled the new model of the EcoSport ahead of its debut at 2016 Los Angeles (LA) Auto Show.
At the front, the headlamps have grown a bit in size and so have the fog lamps, which no longer have the blacked out housing. The split-grille look of the current generation Ford EcoSport has given way to a larger, chrome-finished grille along with sharp creases on the bonnet which give the EcoSport an aggressive stance. The side profile of the car is largely the same except that the window line now has a chrome strip running across it and the wheel design has been changed.
The biggest change on the exteriors, though, has to be the missing rear-mounted spare wheel. It has been a popular design element of the current generation model and it remains to be seen as to how people react to it. Other than this and a restyled bumper, the rear-end of the car has a significant resemblance to the current EcoSport. Along with 10 exterior colour choices, there are seven ambient lighting options and four trim level offerings – S, SE, SES and Titanium. All series feature a swing-gate-style tailgate.
Where the EcoSport really starts to show a fresh approach to design is when you look at the interiors. The silver accents throughout the dashboard have given way to blacked-out interiors with contrast stitching and copper accents inside the cabin give it a premium feel. The steering has a lot more buttons to play with but the main attraction has to be the new 8-inch infotainment system that supports Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. It comes with Ford’s SYNC 3 UI.
The cabin comes with B&O PLAY audio system, standard on EcoSport Titanium, and features a 675-watt system with 10 speakers, including B&O PLAY-branded tweeters and woofers in the front doors and a subwoofer in the back.
The US-Spec variants are available with a 1.0-liter three-cylinder turbocharged EcoBoost engine or a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that comes with four-wheel drive. Both come mated to six-speed automatic transmissions.
As of now, there have been no confirmations from Ford India as to exactly when the car will launch into the Indian market but it is expected to be sometime next year. The updated EcoSport makes a lot more sense in the Indian segment especially because the car’s competitors like the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza have taken a big chunk out of the pie of sales in this segment, due to the kind of onboard features and updated SUV-style design language.
It will be interesting to see what kind of a price tag the updated Ford EcoSport is launched at in India given that now it is more feature-loaded than ever. Watch this space for updates.
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