An Undisguised Ford EcoSport was spotted testing near the Ford facility in Marimalai Nagar near Chennai. A Motor Vikatan reader captured a high-end titanium variant in a bright blue colour, similar to the shade found on the Fiesta and the recently facelifted Figo.
Based on the same platform as the Fiesta, the EcoSport is designed as an urban crawler and has been given a ground clearance of 200mm and water wading ability of upto 550mm, both useful for cruising over big ditches , potholes and big puddles during rainy season.
The American automaker has revealed that the EcoSport will get a glove box with cooling facility, SYNC technology, around 20 storage spaces across various parts of the cabin, along with 60:40 split rear seats. The boot is 346 litres and increases to 560 with the rear seats down. Safety features include Hill Launch assist, ABS, ESP and traction control.
Under the hood, we can expect the 1.0-litre Ecoboost engine in the petrol model and the 1.5-litre TDCi engine in the diesel variant. Both engines will be mated to a six-speed Powershift automatic gearbox or a five-speed manual.
The EcoSport will be Ford’s most important vehicle launch in the country and is expected to be the American automakers answer to the Renault Duster. Ford has confirmed that the EcoSport will be launched (mostly early 2013) with an aggressive price scheme to ensure success.
Source: Motor Vikatan Facebook page