Ford launches the India bound 2013 EcoSport Compact Crossover in Colombia
South America appears to be the favourite playground of Ford’s latest compact crossover, the EcoSport, even as Colombia becomes the third South American country to see the launch of the EcoSport. While the likes of Brazil and Argentina already have the EcoSport rolling onto streets, more Latin American countries like Chile and Mexico are expected to jump onto the brigade very soon. India though, will see the EcoSport making its debut in early 2013 even as the car has made its appearance just across the border in China, where Ford’s Chinese joint venture partner, Chan’gan has already begun producing the crossover.
Ford EcoSport chega ao mercado colombiano | Noticias Automotivas - Carros
The EcoSport sold in most of South America is available with petrol engine options with capacities ranging between 1.6 Liter to 2 Liters. Argentina though, gets the 1.5 Liter TDCI turbo diesel mill. In India too, Ford will be banking on the 1.5 Liter TDCI turbo diesel engine to give it the much needed volumes. The 1 Liter EcoBoost turbo petrol engine is also expected to be made available in the Indian EcoSport. This could perhaps be the reason why Ford India isn’t matching its South American counterparts’ launch time frames for the EcoSport. So, the wait could well be worth it if indeed Ford launches the EcoSport with the 1 Liter turbo petrol unit, an engine that has received plenty of critical acclaim worldwide.
In Colombia, Ford is expected to launch an automatic variant of the EcoSport, with a PowerShift dual clutch gearbox in the coming months and an all wheel drive version is also in the scheme of things for the Colombian market. India too, is expected to get an automatic version of the EcoSport in the coming months, an option which will make the EcoSport quite unique as the Indian SUV market currently does not have a single automatic variant available this side of INR 12 lakhs. The Mahindra Scorpio Automatic, which was the sole operator in this segment has been discontinued due to automatic transmission supply constraints.
Given that the India-spec EcoSport measures in at under 4 meters in length, the crossover is expected to be priced very competitively as it falls under the small car category of the country, a category that gives Ford the option of making a much smaller excise duty to the Indian government. So, expect Ford India to launch the EcoSport with a competitive price tag given that its direct competition, the Renault Duster, has already managed to capture both the mindshare as well as marketshare in India.
![[roll]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Roll.gif "Roll Eyes [roll]")
![[clap]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Clap.gif "Clap [clap]")
