Now that the Renault Duster has made its entry into the compact SUV segment with a luring price tag, the next car that we and the whole automobile fraternity awaits is the Ford EcoSport. The EcoSport is the next important launch of the compact SUV segment and there is no denying to that. Of all the details we know about the car the only one that we were not sure about was whether Ford will introduce an automatic variant of EcoSport or not.
Until a couple of days back it was not known but gladly IndianAutosBlog, one of the fellow automobile blogs has published some spy pictures of the upcoming EcoSport and now we can confirm that Ford has started working on an automatic variant of the EcoSport.
The car in the picture above is the automatic variant of EcoSport as it features Ford’s Powershift dual clutch transmission. As you can see in the interior shot below, the car features an automatic configuration. Beside this we also noticed the SYNC badge placed close to the gear shifter hinting that Ford SYNC, a high end entertainment and communication system would also make its way to the EcoSport. The SYNC system can direct drivers, lets one make voice-activated phone calls, listen to text messages and do a lot more.
The dual clutch PowerShift Automatic transmission from Ford is one of the most affordable double clutch gearboxes in the world. The mechanism is responsive enough and interestingly offers class leading fuel economy. Another important fact about the same is that Ford claims the transmission will need no servicing or oil changing for an impressive 10 years or 2,40,000 Kms which makes it perfect for Indian road conditions. Evidently the interior of the Indian EcoSport is identical to the Brazilian model except for the position of the steering wheel.
We hope Ford will offer the automatic gearbox with both petrol and diesel variants. It is known that Renault Duster does not feature an automatic gearbox yet which means that the EcoSport has an edge over the former. But will it actually be able to beat the Duster? It is yet to be seen, but we have already done a brief pre-launch comparison of Ford EcoSport Vs Renault Duster. Stay tuned for more updates on the EcoSport.
Source & image credits– IAB
