Ford’s new compact SUV to hit Indian roads later this year
NEWDELHI: Ford Motor India Pvt. Ltd will introduce the Freestyle compact SUV in India in the second quarter of this calendar year. The petrol variant will sport a new 1.2 litre engine while the diesel model will use the 1.5 litre engine currently used in the Ecosport (a compact SUV). It will have localisation of 86%, a first for the company in India.
According to Anurag Mehrotra, president and MD, Ford India, Freestyle will be a global vehicle, and is scheduled to be unveiled in some of the South American countries later on Wednesday.
Almost half of the development work of the new vehicle was done in India and the company has managed to increase the sourcing of locally made components in order to price the product aggressively.
Ford was among the first to launch compact SUVS in India with the Ecosport in 2012 but sales have remained subdued for the past two years due to increased competition from almost every manufacturer.
Next year, Hyundai Motor India will launch its second compact SUV in the domestic market along with Mahindra and Mahindra. So, Ford needs to protect its turf with another new offering. The sales of Ecosport in the April-december period declined by 10.5% to 32162 units, according to the data published by the industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
In recent years, Ford also launched a new compact sedan known as the Figo Aspire which failed to excite buyers.