Ford To Make Major Reshuffle in the EcoSport Line-Up, Introduce New Thunder Trim

• Published On: 28 June 2019
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Ford to introduce new variant, reshuffle EcoSport line-up in India.

Ford Ecosport was the one SUV that got the trend of the sub-4 meter compact SUVs going in India. However, over the years, the popularity of the SUV has waned in the Indian market. Not to mention that the arrival of futuristic looking and feature loaded rivals such as the Tata Nexon in 2017 and Hyundai Venue as well as Mahindra XUV300 has only created troubles for the US maker. Therefore, in a bid to increase the sales of the EcoSport in the Indian market, the US maker has decided to go for a variant reshuffle and reorganization of the SUV in the Indian market.

There are reports on the internet stating that the US car maker will bring in an all new variant of the EcoSport in order to take on the competition in the market. This new variant of the EcoSport line-up will be called the ‘Thunder’ trim of the SUV. This new variant will act as the replacement of the Titanium trim of the EcoSport in the Indian market. The new trim Thunder will come with a lot of changes as compared to the model it will replace in the market. Among the changes on the Thunder variant the most prominent ones may be introduction of a new and large 9 inch FlyAudio infotainment system on the SUV.

Other changes on the Thunder trim will be the introduction a dual tone leather interior upholstery, cover for the spare wheel at the rear, sunroof, revised design of alloys, and roof with black finish. With these changes the US maker will try to offset the fresh rivalry in the segment that it is facing due to the introduction of all new feature loaded competitors. This variant will likely come with either a 1.5L diesel or 1.5L petrol engine mated to a manual gearbox.

Moving on to the Titanium+ variant, the maker will reduce the prices of the trim of the SUV by a margin of around Rs 45,000-50,000. This will come to the future customers at the cost of sacrifice of many features that are currently offered on the trim. The features that will be dropped on the Titanium+ variant are most likely to be cruise control, leather seats, and the SYNC3 infotainment system that supports Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. However, the maker will offer the FlyAudio 9-inch infotainment system with the trim. Other addition will be the sunroof on the trim. The engine options include a 1.5-litre petrol unit with both manual and automatic transmission along with a 1.5-litre diesel engine with manual transmission only.

The final rejig in the EcoSport line-up will be in the form of feature cuts on the Titanium variant. The features that will be dropped from this trim will include removal of sunglass holder and centre armrest for rear passengers. Other change will be the introduction of a dual tone theme instead of the all-black theme on the trim. In the under the hood department, the Titanium trim will come with a 1.5L petrol or diesel engine with a manual gearbox.