Ford cancels launch of Ecosport Facelift

You must have heard that Ford has decided to leave India. Now, they have also cancelled the launch of the Ecosport Facelift. The compact SUV’s facelift was supposed to launch during the festive season. This would have been the second facelift of Ecosport since it was first launched in India in June 2013.

The Ecosport’s facelift was spotted on test quite a few times. What we could make out from the spy shots is the new front bumper which got new LED Daytime Running Lamps located near the fog lamp housing. The facelift also had newly designed alloy wheels. However, as per new reports, the Ecosport Facelift has been now been axed.

The Ecosport was one of the first compact SUVs in the Indian market. Due to this, it was able to take tax advantages that government offers on vehicles that have a length of less than 4-metres. Ford also used to export the Ecosport as a left-hand drive vehicle to North America.

Also read: Ford EcoSport shows off its segment-best water wading ability like a BOSS (Video)

Ford sold the Ecosport with a petrol and a diesel engine. Because of the BS6 emission norms, Ford discontinued the EcoBoost petrol engine last year. It was supposed to be replaced with the 1.2-litre mStallion petrol engine from Mahindra. But as we know the joint venture between both manufacturers broke and the engine deal got cancelled. The mStallion engine would have made the Ecosport the most powerful compact SUV in the segment.

Ford was also testing the Bi-turbo version of the Endeavour. It was supposed to launch in India to compete against the MG Gloster and the Toyota Fortuner. However, it seems like Ford will also not be bringing the Endeavour Bi-turbo to India. This is because the Ecosport’s facelift was complete and was all set to launch but the Endeavour Bi-turbo was spotted doing emission testing.

What is Ford’s future?

Ford will now focus on selling CBU or Completely Built Units in India. They will continue to support customers by providing services to their vehicles. Ford will also provide spare parts and provide warranty services. Dealerships will also continue to exist in India because they will be selling the CBU vehicles.

Having said that, Ford will shut down some of their touchpoints that are located in smaller towns. Ford already used to sell Mustang in the Indian market. There is a chance that they will be bringing back the Mustang and will now sell vehicles like Bronco, Mustang Mach-e and Ranger pick-up truck as CBU imports.

What went wrong with Ford?

Well, sales of Ford were not really strong so they collaborated with Mahindra. However, the joint venture broke last year and Ford did not have any models lined up for the future. Despite investing significantly in the Indian market, the manufacturer faced a loss of $2 billion

Their plants have a production capacity of 4 lakh units. However, the American manufacturer was only producing 80,000 units out of which 50 percent were exported. Ford did talk to other manufacturers to share the production plant but no one was interested. As a result, Ford closed down operations in India.

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