Ford’s new Maruti Brezza rival: What it could look like!

Contrary to the reports suggesting Ford’s partial exit from India, the US manufacturer is planning to invest a huge sum of Rs. 7,000 crores or $ 1 Billion in the Indian market for the development of new products among other things in the next 5 to 7 years according to a report. Ford has already entered into a partnership with Mahindra for the development of vehicles as well as technology exchange. The company is currently developing a new vehicle which will act as a replacement for the Ecosport both in India as well as the international markets. The render below, courtesy Kleber Silva on Behance, gives us a good idea of how the Ecosport replacement and Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza rival would look like in production form.

Spy shots of the upcoming Ecosport replacement have surfaced quite a few times and they suggest a sleeker profile of the vehicle. This could be because this new Ecosport replacement will be based on the Ford Fiesta platform and hence will sport a sleek design language as compared to the current butch stance of the sub-4 meter SUV. Talking about the design, the front end of the car in the render looks somewhat similar to the Ford Freestyle crossover. The headlights, bumpers, grille design and the C shaped black plastic insert above and around the fog lamps are all reminiscent of the Freestyle. However, this being a render, the production version of the vehicle may look different.

Moving on, it gets black cladding on the lower body panels all around. The lower window line rises all the way up to meet the roof and the C-pillar, a design feature we have seen on the Tata Nexon. The roof has been painted white and gets black rails over it. It rides on stylish multispoke rims while a silver bash plate has been added at the front suggesting its rugged intentions. We also see a sunroof in this render, which is not a surprise given the Ecosport also comes with one. As for the interiors, not much information is available yet but expect them to be feature rich. The upholstery and the dashboard layout will be revised too.

Talking about the engine, there are no factual details about the powertrain as of now. However, it is expected that the EcoSport replacement will continue to be powered by the 1.5-litre Dragon series engine which was introduced last year. The all-new three-cylinder engine is BS VI compliant. The 1.0-litre EcoBoost turbocharged petrol engine may also stay on the offer. The same could not be said about the diesel unit as several of the manufacturers in India are dumping diesel engines in the lower end models due to the cost of BSVI upgrade.