Ford Ecosport’s new variants officially teased ahead of launch

Earlier, a Ford Ecosport without a tailgate-mounted spare wheel was spotted while an advertisement shoot. Till now, there were only spy shots. However, now Ford India has officially teased the upcoming variants. There will be two new variants on offer. There will be S and SE where the SE variant will come with the international spec tailgate design and details about the S variant are not known yet. The post was shared on Instagram in which Ford India said “Two’s always better than one. Coming soon #FordEcoSportSE, same-same but a different avatar of Ford EcoSport S.”

As of now, the Ecosport is sold in 5 variants, namely Ambiente, Trend, Titanium, Sports and Titanium Plus AT. The new SE variant is expected to sit below the Titanium and Sports variant and it should also cost a bit less as it is missing a spare wheel. The new amendment that the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways or MoRTH did states that carmakers can now skip offering the spare wheel in the M1 category if the vehicle comes with some specific equipment such as a tyre puncture repair kit, tyre pressure monitoring system etc.  This means that the Ecosport SE will come with tubeless tyres, a tyre pressure monitoring system and a puncture repair kit.

The tailgate will still be side-hinged so it will swing sideways, which means that it could be a bit difficult to open the boot if the rear-end of the vehicle is parked too close to something. The SE variant does look a bit refreshing considering that the design of the Ecosport has started to show its age. It will get the same tail lamp design and a chrome slat just above the number plate holder which has been positioned between the tailgate instead of the lower half of the bumper where it was earlier placed. The lower half of the bumper now comes with a silver faux skid plate.

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From the previous spy shots we know that the SE variant will come with alloy wheels, body-coloured outside rearview mirrors and door handles, roof rails, rear wiper with washer, high mounted stop lamp and a rear spoiler. Ford says that the new variant is introduced after taking customer feedback as people wanted an Ecosport without the boot-mounted spare wheel. There will be no mechanical changes to the compact-SUV. So, it will still be offered with a 1.5-litre petrol engine and a 1.5-litre diesel engine. The 1.5-litre petrol engine produces 122 PS of max power and a peak torque output of 149 Nm. It is mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox or a 6-speed torque converter automatic gearbox. The 1.5-litre diesel engine puts out 100 PS of max power and a peak torque output of 215 Nm. It is only offered with a 5-speed manual gearbox.

The Ford Ecosport currently starts from Rs.  7.99 lakhs ex-showroom and the top-end variant will cost you Rs. 11.49 lakhs ex-showroom. Ford Ecosport competes with Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Hyundai Venue, Mahindra XUV300, Nissan Magnite, Kia Sonet, Tata Nexon, Toyota Urban Cruiser and recently launched Renault Kiger.

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