Since its launch in 2013, the Ford Ecosport has completed seven years in the Indian market. The Ecosport is the car that first debut the sub-compact SUV segment and we all know how popular it is today. Its quite a trend setter.
The sub-compact SUV segment which has become ever so crowded now and is one of the most sought after car segments in India was kick started by none other than the Ford Ecosport way back in 2013. Originally showcased as a concept at the 2012 Auto Expo, the Ford Ecosport saw its launch in the market a year later and its been seven years since then. By then, Ford was already reaping on the success of the Figo for it being a fun to drive car. Sales for the Figo were sky rocketing and it really changed how we started to look at Ford as a maker of fun to drive cars.
Ford launched the Ecosport in its second generation in India and there was nothing of this sort we had seen before – a compact car that looks like an SUV. Even today, if there’s any car in the segment that does the SUV thing the best, it has to be the Ford Ecosport. It had got the ride height, the stance of an SUV and powerful petrol and diesel engines that promised to tackle every kind of terrain. It even looked the most SUV-ish, particularly with its rear tail-gate mounted spare wheel.
What’s more? The Ford Ecosport gave a further boost to Ford’s image of making fun to drive cars. The ride and handling was absolutely spot on and it drove more like a sedan than its raised ride height would suggest. The Ecosport was a great addition in Ford’s lineup after the Figo for the enthusiasts and for those who enjoyed driving. Ford had also invested $142 million dollar for manufacturing the Ecosport at its Chennai plant and that allowed them to price the car extremely aggressively. Ford launched the Ecosport for a price of Rs 5.59 lakh for the base petrol variant and went up to Rs 8.99 lakh for the top-end diesel variant.
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Soon after, Ford also launched the famed 1.0L Ecoboost engine in the sub-compact SUV for a price of Rs 7.9 lakh and it was yet another hit with the enthusiast. What really helped the Ecosport was also its pricing as it was manufactured here in India. In just two years time, Ford managed to cross the 2 lakh production milestone for the Ecosport and it was soon destined to be a export for other market as well. Ford exported the India-made Ecosport to several countries like South Africa, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, and Europe and in 2016, the India-made Ecosport was even going out to the US.
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Its been seven years and although the Ecosport has a lot more competition now, Ford has done a fair job in regularly updating the Ecosport all its life with new features and even engines. Of course, the competition these days are much more sophisticated and that is why sales for the Ecosport aren’t as high as it used to be. Nevertheless, the Ecosport will be up for another round of updates next year when it receives a brand new engine from Mahindra and Ford must also be working on a new-gen model of the Ecosport. We are really excited to see how the journey of the Ecosport unravels in the future, something that gave birth to one of the most popular car segments in India right now.
