Ford Figo coming in March 2010
Its not just the likes of Volkswagens and Nissans or Toyotas that are taking the Indian markets seriously.The ever booming automobile market in India has caught the attention of many other foreign manufacturers. India is already the largest market when it comes to Motorbikes and small cars.The latest entrant to the ever competitive small car segment is the Ford Figo,a hatchback Ford says is made especially to suit Indian conditions and the interests of a normal Indian customer.
The Ford Figo was unveiled in September 2009 at New Delhi by none other than Ford’s global operations CEO Alan Mulally.The importance of the Indian automobile market is evident from this itself as the company CEO came all the way to India to unveil the Figo.The Ford Figo is expected to make an appearance in the Ford stables in the Auto Expo 2010 and the speculated prices suggest that the Ford Figo will be a more than worthy competitor in the small car segment.
The Figo will compete with the likes of Maruti Ritz,Hyundai i20,Honda Jazz and the to be introduced Volkswagen Polo. The price is expected to be around 3-3.5 lakhs and that would mean that the Honda Jazz,which is already hitting a new low for Honda with its sales, is going to find the going even tougher.Well,Honda seems to have lost the plot when they priced the Jazz at the higher price tag.With the Volkswagen Polo and the UP! cars to be launched in the small car segment, Ford too will have its going tough .Also Maruti and Hyundai has been ruling the small car segment for quite a while now and the new launches will have a tough time. but nevertheless, the new launches will add a new dimension to the small car segment.
The Ford Figo will be manufactured in India at Ford’s new plant at Chennai and reports say that Ford has made a massive investment of about $500 million to increase the production capacity of its Chennai plant. So that is good news for all those people who have aspirations of owning a car A host of other cars can be expected from Ford in the near future.
The underlying technology on the Ford Figo will be the same as in the Ford Fiesta. Ford will
be hoping to repeat the success it got with the Fiesta.The front design has some parallels to the design of the Fiesta and the Ikon.All the more ,the classical Ford design has been fused into the Ford Figo as well, which is evident from the appearance of the grille and the wide air dam in the front.Side views indicate that the Figo has some similarities to the Ford Fusion.So may be the Figo is a car which has the best features of the Fiesta, Ikon and the Fusion fused into one small car!!
The Ford Figo will have two variants-a Diesel variant and a Petrol variant.The diesel engine is expected to be a 1.4 L Duratech engine, that already drives the Ford Fiesta and the Ikon.That itself is good news as the Ford Fiesta Deisel’s has been a big hit in India due to the high mileage it offers.The petrol variant will be a 1.2L Duratech engine,again the same engine that drives the Fiesta petrol, but of lower cc.The maximum power offered is expected to be around 75-85 Bhp but these are not confirmed specs.The Diesel variant will cost a bit more than the Petrol variant as expected, a around 4-4.5 lakhs. Now, that is seriously a competitive price to enter the small car segment.
The Ford Figo certainly has in it to make it big in the small car segment. The segment will heat up with the addition of the Volkswagens and may be,with time, Ford and Volkswagen can provide stiff competition to Maruti and Hyundai.The Ford Figo is expected to be available from March 2010.
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