Mahindra and Ford have joined hands to develop next-generation products. With the much more stringent BS6 norms coming up in the Indian market, manufacturers are working to bring in the new, emission-compliant engines. Ford, the American car manufacturer will share the all-new 2.0-litre BS6-compliant diesel engine that is currently under development by Mahindra. That’s not it, Ford will also replace its much-celebrated and award-winning 1.0-litre EcoBoost with a Mahindra engine when the new emission norms are implemented in the market.
According to a report on ACI, Ford will replace their three-cylinder, turbocharged engine that powers the EcoSport in India will be discontinued from the line-up from April 2020. Instead, Ford will use the new 1.2-litre direct-injection, three-cylinder, turbocharged petrol engine in the EcoSport. It should be noted the new engine will be based on the 1.2-litre turbo-petrol engine that powers the Mahindra XUV300.
The 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine, which is only available with the Ford EcoSport at the moment is imported, which makes it quite expensive than the made-in-India engines with heavily-localised parts. This increases the price of the 1.0-litre EcoBoost powered variant of the EcoSport too. Also, the engine, which is mostly chosen by the enthusiasts makes up for a small 5% of the total sales of the sub-4m compact SUV.
The all-new engine will make its debut in the Indian market with the Ford EcoSport. However, Mahindra will also power the XUV300 using the same engine in the coming times. It should be noted that Ford is already working on an all-new compact SUV, which is internally known as the BX744 and it is likely to be the EcoSport replacement in the Indian market. Ford will use the same 1.2-litre TGDI from Mahinda to power the all-new car. In the Mahindra XUV300, the all-new engine will be available with the current version of the petrol engine.
Mahindra will soon launch the all-new XUV300 with an AMT automatic transmission. However, the all-new engine is expected to get twin-clutch transmission, which is much more advanced and operates smoother than the regular AMT.
Mahindra will soon launch the new range of BS6 compliant petrol engines by September 2019. In early 2020, Mahindra will unveil their range of BS6 compliant diesel engines in the market. Earlier, Mahindra said that the price difference between the petrol and diesel variants will increase after the implementation of the BS6 norms but the vehicles will remain affordable. It should be noted that India’s biggest car manufacturer – Maruti Suzuki has already announced that they will not sell any diesel-powered cars in the Indian market after the BS6 norms kick in. However, they may offer the diesel engines in the market at a later stage if there’s enough demand for it in the market. All other competitors including Hyundai, Mahindra, Tata, Honda and Ford have announced that they will keep offering the diesel engines in the Indian market.
