Ford EcoSport Signature Edition compact SUV spyshots surface

Ford has been spotted testing a new variant of the EcoSport, called the Signature Edition. The Signature Edition of the sub-4 meter compact SUV comes with revised alloy wheels on the outside, Signature badging, contrast roof and wing mirrors and a blacked out front grille.

The interiors show blue inserts on the dashboard and door trims. Apart from these changes, the vehicle doesn’t show much including what lies under the hood. Don’t expect drastic changes there considering the fact that the EcoSport is sold only with two engines – a 1.5 liter-3 cylinder petrol and a 1.5 liter-4 cylinder diesel.

The petrol engine is from the newly introduced Dragon family, and outputs a strong 120 Bhp-150 Nm output. The diesel is from Ford’s well established TDCI range. Displacing 1.5 liters, the diesel motor makes 98.6 Bhp and 205 Nm. It’s the overwhelming market favourite. Ford offers 5 speed manual and 6 speed automatic gearboxes with the petrol engine and a 5 speed manual gearbox on the diesel engine.

Competition for the EcoSport comes from other sub-4 meter SUVs such as the Maruti Brezza, Tata Nexon and the Mahindra TUV300. The EcoSport, which was a strong seller that used to occupy the second position in the sub-4 meter compact SUV market, is now under big pressure from the Nexon.

Tata will soon introduce AMT options on both the petrol and diesel powered Nexon variants. This may be behind Ford’s product intervention with a signature edition of the EcoSport. Ford has also been seen testing a S variant of the EcoSport, which is expected to get sharper handling due to a stiffer suspension set-up. It remains to be seen of the Signature Edition gets the benefits of the stiffer suspension set-up. The Signature Edition of the SUV is expected to go on sale in the coming months, and could be a top-end model.

Via Team-BHP