Ford EcoSport Facelift 2018 Launched in India (Coverage Pg: 34)

[1989rs500]

I think pay the extra 2L and get Titanium Plus AT only
Retrofits are often aftermarket or require removing panels to access areas to install
Honestly not worth the horrors of seeing your new car torn apart

Plus safety features of 6 airbags,TPMS etc is also worth it
How often does one car shop anyways , might as well go for it if you lust for the features imho

2 lakhs is no easy money. If someone is in a budget there is always an option for a lower trim, and I feel thats exactly why the Trend+ variant exists,
The retrofits and modifications can be done any time after purchase, if one is not in much need of projector headlamps, its not a must, the only real miss are the safety features like 6 airbags,tpms, these cannot be fitted back again,
So my point is decide for the safety features on offer, if, the car is going to be driven with less than 3 most of the time, there isnt much need of all safety features, Ecosports chassis is proven safe which even the new Figo twins cant claim in full glory.
So even base trims are more safe than majority of its competition,
Also the 16" rims definitely has a better ride, the Trend+ also is lighter than the Titanium+ AT by around 20 kgs, so there will be like 2-3% better real life mileage as well for Trend+ compared with titanium, if one can aave that 2 lakhs and petrol the Trend+ Ecosport one can easily drive for about 32k kms even before reaching purchase price of Ecosport Titanium+ AT.

So what I feel is if budget is tight,move with Trend+, its also a very well loaded car in my opinion as most basic features are present in Trend+ like basic safety,basic technology and basic luxury features.

 

[gearhead2]

I think pay the extra 2L and get Titanium Plus AT only
Retrofits are often aftermarket or require removing panels to access areas to install
Honestly not worth the horrors of seeing your new car torn apart

Plus safety features of 6 airbags,TPMS etc is also worth it
How often does one car shop anyways , might as well go for it if you lust for the features imho

6 airbags sounds marvellous I agree. But looking at the fatality statistics because of failure of airbags deployment, makes me sceptical of their reliability. Also keeping in mind the number of recalls by various mfrs. because of airbags issues, reinforces the scepticism!

 

[kkn13]

2 lakhs is no easy money. If someone is in a budget there is always an option for a lower trim, and I feel thats exactly why the Trend+ variant exists,
The retrofits and modifications can be done any time after purchase, if one is not in much need of projector headlamps, its not a must, the only real miss are the safety features like 6 airbags,tpms, these cannot be fitted back again,
So my point is decide for the safety features on offer, if, the car is going to be driven with less than 3 most of the time, there isnt much need of all safety features, Ecosports chassis is proven safe which even the new Figo twins cant claim in full glory.
So even base trims are more safe than majority of its competition,
Also the 16" rims definitely has a better ride, the Trend+ also is lighter than the Titanium+ AT by around 20 kgs, so there will be like 2-3% better real life mileage as well for Trend+ compared with titanium, if one can aave that 2 lakhs and petrol the Trend+ Ecosport one can easily drive for about 32k kms even before reaching purchase price of Ecosport Titanium+ AT.

So what I feel is if budget is tight,move with Trend+, its also a very well loaded car in my opinion as most basic features are present in Trend+ like basic safety,basic technology and basic luxury features.

Thats true
Im saying if OP desires the features , rather take the plunge
Retrofit is never as good as factory fitment
He can ask the dealer to use OEM parts maybe?

 

[F4frewin]

Ecosport numbers for Dec-17- 1733 as per Autopunditz. Nothing surprising as I have been reading most of the folks on online forums all claim to have requested dealers for Jan-18 manufactured car, plus the Ecosport Launch in US later this month. So Ford probably did a lot of exports of Ecosports in Dec -17. I expect the numbers for Jan-18 will reflect 2 months Sales.

Ford concentrating on exports is a good view. But, the demand for Ecosport seems to be dwindling as its just second month from launch and not may would have the choice of asking for 2018 cars. Ford stopped production of old Ecosport long before the launch one should remember. 1733 units for second month is alarm bells ringing for Ford as its a one product company always and with sales of Endeavour not encouraging in the past few months and lack of new products in pipeline, I'm dreaded to imagine Ford going GM way(i.e.,only export) in India.

 

[lightless_shadow]

first service update
car given at 1.00pm & got back at 3.00pm .the service was general inspection ie checking cleaning & topup.car was washed & cleaned inside out thoroughly.
two issues were reported 1.) door auto-lock not working 2.) reverse dynamic guidelines have mood of their own sometimes comes sometimes does not.
solution provided for 1.) auto lock removed from facelift 2.) guidelines comes after some forward movement.park the car at night & next morning engage reverse guidelines will not come, drive for some distance then engage reverse giudelines will come.
bill of service nill

 

[1989rs500]

Ford concentrating on exports is a good view. But, the demand for Ecosport seems to be dwindling as its just second month from launch and not may would have the choice of asking for 2018 cars. Ford stopped production of old Ecosport long before the launch one should remember. 1733 units for second month is alarm bells ringing for Ford as its a one product company always and with sales of Endeavour not encouraging in the past few months and lack of new products in pipeline, I'm dreaded to imagine Ford going GM way(i.e.,only export) in India.

I dont think so, what I see is not just everybody goes to a Ford showroom, only informed people buy Ford, and most people knew the Ecosport face lift was coming to Indja by 2017 and a lot waited for 2017 pre face lifts discounts.
Even for January 2018 there will probably be under 2000 local deliveries owing to huge exports for 3 major car markets,
Kairali Ford Trivandrum has a waiting period of 3 months for a 2017 December booked Ecosport TDCi Titanium, so that means Ford is giving initial push to all international launches and then might focus on India.

There is a new Ford Freestyle on pipeline and will be launched in India by 2018 June/July and this is not just a spiced up Figo like how an Etios Cross or Elite i20 or even how a WRV is to Jazz, this is a properly well engineered new car according to sources, this new Ford Freestyle will bridge the gap between Figo/Aspire and Ecosport.

So Ford is no way in vicinity if GM route, however Nissan and Datsun maybe in that route

 

[gearhead2]

I dont think so, what I see is not just everybody goes to a Ford showroom, only informed people buy Ford, and most people knew the Ecosport face lift was coming to Indja by 2017 and a lot waited for 2017 pre face lifts discounts.
Even for January 2018 there will probably be under 2000 local deliveries owing to huge exports for 3 major car markets,
Kairali Ford Trivandrum has a waiting period of 3 months for a 2017 December booked Ecosport TDCi Titanium, so that means Ford is giving initial push to all international launches and then might focus on India.

There is a new Ford Freestyle on pipeline and will be launched in India by 2018 June/July and this is not just a spiced up Figo like how an Etios Cross or Elite i20 or even how a WRV is to Jazz, this is a properly well engineered new car according to sources, this new Ford Freestyle will bridge the gap between Figo/Aspire and Ecosport.

So Ford is no way in vicinity if GM route, however Nissan and Datsun maybe in that route

There lies the problem! - most of the major MNCs (Ford, VW, Hyundai eg) love India basically for its incentivised local manufacturing infrastructure - not because they have any respect for the Indian market or the buyer's acumen. This I feel is the main reason why they think of India as a fringe market where they can safely dump some of their international rejects.

Their poor opinion of the Indian buyer's car-saviness is well illustrated by the recent noise in the press about Renault's attempt to pass off their new Captur/Kaptur in the local Indian market as the internationally acclaimed version - which it was not! This poor attempt at sleight-of-hand was thwarted by alert readers of online forums, whereas the mainstream media was happily looking the other way!

 

[Tarik Arora]

Ford concentrating on exports is a good view. But, the demand for Ecosport seems to be dwindling as its just second month from launch and not may would have the choice of asking for 2018 cars. Ford stopped production of old Ecosport long before the launch one should remember. 1733 units for second month is alarm bells ringing for Ford as its a one product company always and with sales of Endeavour not encouraging in the past few months and lack of new products in pipeline, I'm dreaded to imagine Ford going GM way(i.e.,only export) in India.

The numbers that you see on M-O-M basis are Wholesale numbers and not retail. Wholesales are cars shipped to dealers from the OEM. In December the Wholesale numbers for all OEMs and Products (unless its a very hot and high demand product) are lower because dealers dont focus on picking new cars from the OEM but they focus on liquidating the stock that they already have. So, dont worry about the lower numbers in Dec.
In January dealers will again start picking the fresh stock (2018 manufactured) and thus the numbers will be higher. This is a thumb rule across the Industry. Only models that are very hot (Brezza, Baleno, Nexon etc.) and are getting retailed in large numbers even in Dec are picked by the dealers in December and thus their numbers may not be this low. Hope this helps!

 

[kkn13]

There lies the problem! - most of the major MNCs (Ford, VW, Hyundai eg) love India basically for its incentivised local manufacturing infrastructure - not because they have any respect for the Indian market or the buyer's acumen. This I feel is the main reason why they think of India as a fringe market where they can safely dump some of their international rejects.

Their poor opinion of the Indian buyer's car-saviness is well illustrated by the recent noise in the press about Renault's attempt to pass off their new Captur/Kaptur in the local Indian market as the internationally acclaimed version - which it was not! This poor attempt at sleight-of-hand was thwarted by alert readers of online forums, whereas the mainstream media was happily looking the other way!

Agreed but to be fair ,
The European Captur uses B platform of the Clio
Whereas Indian Captur uses B0 platform based on the Duster

B0 is actually a more rugged platform whereas B platform was intended for smaller vehicles since its the Clio's platform

This is like Honda with the Brio platform, BRV/Mobilio is the Brio platform whereas the more capable HRV is based on the Civic platform which is shared with City and Jazz
Shame they didnt launch the more capable HRV in India over the BRV

So in a way Renault didnt completely goof up, they just completely missed the memo about ATs, better interiors and pricing

PS- Hyundai is a geniune OEM in India, they dont skimp like other manufacturers in many areas such as VW

 

[1989rs500]

There lies the problem! - most of the major MNCs (Ford, VW, Hyundai eg) love India basically for its incentivised local manufacturing infrastructure - not because they have any respect for the Indian market or the buyer's acumen. This I feel is the main reason why they think of India as a fringe market where they can safely dump some of their international rejects.

Their poor opinion of the Indian buyer's car-saviness is well illustrated by the recent noise in the press about Renault's attempt to pass off their new Captur/Kaptur in the local Indian market as the internationally acclaimed version - which it was not! This poor attempt at sleight-of-hand was thwarted by alert readers of online forums, whereas the mainstream media was happily looking the other way!

I think this is not completely true because
1. Ecosport is cheapest to buy in India than across anywhere on globe, the average price of Ecosport globally when converter to INR is around 14-18 lakhs, its only in India/China that Ecosport is sold for 9-14 lakhs on road, and the only difference for global Ecosport thats sold for 18 lakhs in fully loaded trim is the inclusion of sunroof and BLISS and pedestrian detection system , rest all are same with Titanium+ AT and Global loaded Ecosport, so India is indeed lucky and Ford could have gone all greedy and provided Ecosport/Figo with 2 airbags maximum, but they are not doing that
2. Endeavor too is cheapest to buy in India than on any other market across earth
3. Figo and Aspire are the only cars that I feel Ford has cheapened a little bit for India specific purpose ,
But if we look at competition , they are more worse, like Maruti sells SWifts with 5* NCAP globally for nearly 6 years now, but even today 1 of the biggest selling car in India the Swift is 0 star worthy only
Alto,Omni,Wagon R, and I I open Marutis list its even bigger issue and yet its selling like hot cakes in India

Same is case for Hyundai as well, so what I feel is India is a country thats very strict and follows perception and never let go past experiences so easily, Ford used to be STUPID back in 90s and early 2000s and that paved a really bad starting point and that stigma is still the biggest reason why the mass still dont choose Ford even when at times they know its the better car.

 

[Amedius]

I wish the the Ford Ecosport too would have got the AEB which would have been the best of Ford till date. Just read the news below

FORD NEWS

Ford Motor Co said on Thursday it will make automatic emergency brakes standard on two key 2019 models, an effort by the No. 2 U.S. automaker to catch up with rivals in offering the new technology designed to help vehicles avoid collisions. Ford will fit the brakes on its redesigned 2019 Edge midsize crossover vehicle and its new 2019 Ranger midsize pickup, that will compete later this year with the Chevrolet Colorado and Toyota Tacoma.

The brakes are part of a suite of standard safety features on the new Edge, Ford said, including technology that detects objects and pedestrians and can prevent collisions by automatically braking and steering for the driver.

The 2019 Edge, which goes on sale this summer, will also offer new optional safety features, including a more sophisticated cruise control system as well as automatic steering assist to help avoid potential crashes.

 

[1989rs500]

I wish the the Ford Ecosport too would have got the AEB which would have been the best of Ford till date. Just read the news below

FORD NEWS

Ford Motor Co said on Thursday it will make automatic emergency brakes standard on two key 2019 models, an effort by the No. 2 U.S. automaker to catch up with rivals in offering the new technology designed to help vehicles avoid collisions. Ford will fit the brakes on its redesigned 2019 Edge midsize crossover vehicle and its new 2019 Ranger midsize pickup, that will compete later this year with the Chevrolet Colorado and Toyota Tacoma.

The brakes are part of a suite of standard safety features on the new Edge, Ford said, including technology that detects objects and pedestrians and can prevent collisions by automatically braking and steering for the driver.

The 2019 Edge, which goes on sale this summer, will also offer new optional safety features, including a more sophisticated cruise control system as well as automatic steering assist to help avoid potential crashes.

The issue with active safety features like these are that they wont work fot good in our congested country, for eg BLISS it will keep on blinking the whole time in our cities because scooters,autowrickshaws etc always cut throgh left or right of our vehicles on each congested conditions,
Same way AEB might be more dangerous in our country with variety of instances, so I dont think they are must, Airbags,ABS,EBD,seat belt pre tensioners, emergency brake assist, roll over protection, TPMS, are all very good and will work best in India.

 

[akshat812]

I have titanium petrol manual, wanted to check if others also feel the same about the clutch and gear.

130km driven, max in city. I feel the clutch to be very hard for a new car, the clutch on the test drive vehicle i drove was light and smooth. Also the gear does not go into 3 and 4 smoothly, whereas in the TD car it was all perfect. Planning to take it to service centre on Sunday to check these issues.

 

[Amedius]

I have titanium petrol manual, wanted to check if others also feel the same about the clutch and gear.

130km driven, max in city. I feel the clutch to be very hard for a new car, the clutch on the test drive vehicle i drove was light and smooth. Also the gear does not go into 3 and 4 smoothly, whereas in the TD car it was all perfect. Planning to take it to service centre on Sunday to check these issues.

This happens with lots of car.....its normal. One of my friend who purchased
City Honda a year back had the same problem. But he serviced it and since then the clutch did not trouble him till date.

 

[Amedius]

I called my agent regarding my allotted car Titanium plus AT (color chosen at first - white). I said that since my all relatives own white color car, I now wanted to change the color. He was reluctant at first but then he agreed and said that the blue color model of Titanium will take another one month or so and will be allotted only in March and that too if the budget say so, the price will be further increased. I said no problem.