Flush with the success of hatchback Figo, Ford India on Wednesday unveiled another global product - a compact SUV called EcoSport - besides announcing a fresh investment of $142 million for the product in its Chennai facility.
EcoSport has been built on Ford’s latest global platform and comes with a 1,000 cc, 3-cylinder petrol engine. But the company claims that this engine will provide power equal to a 1.6-litre engine at 120 ps.
EcoSport is the second of eight new global models that Ford plans to launch in India as it targets Asian and African markets in a push to increase annual global sales to 8 million units by 2015.
The company sold just under 100,000 cars in India in 2011, a rise of 15% from the previous year, and expects Asian sales volumes to double and account for a third of the carmaker’s global sales by 2020. Allan Mullaly, president & CEO of Ford Motor Company, said the vehicle would be launched later this year in India, which would then be exported to almost 100 countries. He said only a petrol powertrain is available as of now, but a diesel variant is in the pipeline. Mullaly declined to reveal the EcoSport price.
Joe Hinrichs, group vice-president (Asia Pacific), said: “The Indian market will be the third largest by the end of the decade behind the US and China.”
We are still bullish on India and expect significant growth as per capita income rises in tier II andIII cities.”
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