Ford has been one of the only carmakers in the country, that saw a decline in sales for the month of February. This is partly due to the reason that the Joint Venture (JV) between Mahindra and Ford had been called off and Ford was betting big on this JV to launch a lot of new products in our market. After the removal of the iconic EcoBoost engine from its lineup, EcoSport observed a substantial decline in overall sales. Being a key contributor to Ford’s overall sales in the country, this translated into a negative impact across the board for Ford. Therefore, it became necessary that Ford does something about it. As a result, it shuffled the variants of its products including Freestyle, Figo and Aspire. Now, it has launched a new variant of the EcoSport to bring a certain freshness to the product. Let us check in detail, what is new in this variant.
Also read: Ford-Mahindra Joint Venture called off – Here is why!
2021 Ford EcoSport SE – Exterior changes
The Ford EcoSport has seen some minimal changes on the outside. The noticeable one is the elimination of the spare wheel on the rear door. The rear bumper has been redesigned and features skid plates. This variant has been on sale in the international markets for a long time. Indian regulations allow a vehicle, weighing under 3.5 tonnes and seating up to 9 passengers to come without a spare wheel if there is a Tyre Pressure Monitoring System available with the vehicle. Additionally, there will a tyre puncture kit offered as standard with the vehicle in case of emergency. Apart from that, this variant will sit below the top-trim and therefore comes with a ton of features and equipment.
Also read: Car Sales Report for February 2021 – Ford, Hyundai, Maruti, Tata, Kia and more!
2021 Ford EcoSport SE – Equipment and Features
The equipment list on this SE variant includes an 8.0-inch Ford’s SYNC 3 infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, Navigation, Auto HID Headlamps with LED DRLs, 16-inch alloy wheels, Auto Wipers, Rear Defogger, Push Button Start/Stop, Voice Recognition, Powered Sunroof, Ford Pass in-car Connectivity and much more. On the safety front, the EcoSport SE variant will come equipped with dual front, side and curtain airbags, ABS with EBD, Emergency Calling Servies, Hill Launch Assist, Rear View Camera, ESC, Traction Control, Speed-Sensing auto door lock, High-Speed Alarm System and Cruise Control.
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2021 Ford EcoSport SE – Engine, Prices and Rivals
The EcoSport has remained unchanged under the hood with both petrol and diesel powertrains available on offer. The petrol unit is a 1.5-litre naturally aspirated engine making 120hp and 149Nm and the 1.5-diesel making 98hp and 215Nm. The petrol engine comes mated to either a 5-speed manual or a 6-speed automatic and the diesel comes with just a 5-speed manual gearbox option. The SE variant is offered with just the manual transmission option. The price for the SE Petrol variant is Rs 10.49 lakh and for the diesel, it is Rs 10.99 lakh, ex-showroom. These prices are full Rs 50,000 lower than the S (top-trim) variant.
The rivals list of the Ford EcoSport is huge and increasing. This includes products like Hyundai Venue, Kia Sonet, Tata Nexon, Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Mahindra XUV300, Nissan Magnite, Renault Kiger and Toyota Urban Cruiser. Jeep and Citroen are also planning to enter this segment to compete against these popular products.
