EcoSport has been the biggest hit from Ford and is the largest seller for the company in India. Attractive styling and killer introductory prices just sealed the deal for most of the car buyers.
The only major problem which it is facing is the issue of availability. The waiting periods hovered around 12 months at some point of time and for some variants when Ford stopped taking further bookings. Only recently, they re-opened the bookings for public.
Amidst all this, there is an interesting report that has cropped up at Economic Times. It says that internally Ford India has lost the opportunity to ship cars to North America where the company has plans to launch EcoSport in. And it would be Ford Thailand which will do the honours! This is a welcome news if you are reading as an Indian customer!
Our question; was Ford India really keen on adding another (mass) market to its export group from its Chennai plant? This is grave considering the fact that it is exports which has created this huge waiting period. Ford is exporting almost 30-35 percent EcoSports produced at their Chennai plant to other destinations, keeping Indians waiting…!
There are words for the EcoSport to be sold in the North American countries included United States and Canada and it’s most likely the Thai division of the American manufacturer that will get the job. India would still continue supplying EcoSports to the European markets though. Ford is even trying to pump up the production at its Chennai facility to ease up the demand-supply shortage a bit…They better do that..!
In another important bit, this news snippet also mentions that EcoSport will be facelifted by 2016. Well..2016 is still a couple of years away and it would be interesting how would EcoSport thrive till then considering that there will be intense competition that will be brewing around the mini-SUV.
How extensive the facelift will be, is also one question that only Ford knows at this point of time. Considering that EcoSport is already a well rounded product, apart from the cosmetic changes, we would not mind getting a 4×4 variant and possibly an automatic gearbox on the 1.0L EcoBoost motor. Will you..?
Also Read: Clash of the Compacts: Ford EcoSport Versus Renault Duster: Which ONE..?
