Ford India has already begun shipping new, fully loaded variants of the EcoSport S to dealers across the country in the run up to the launch. Autocar has revealed that the EcoSport S will be launched in India during May, when it’ll be available in Titanium and Titanium+ trims.
The EcoSport S will be the top-of-the-line variant of the sub-4 meter compact SUV offering, designed to appeal to discerning buyers who want a unique vehicle that offers a lot more than the competition. Competition here refers to the Tata Nexon and the Maruti Vitara Brezza, two capable compact SUVs that offer quite a lot in terms of features but fall short when compared to the top-spec EcoSport S.
The sunroof, a feature that Indian buyers simply love, will make it to the sub-4 meter compact SUV segment through the EcoSport S. This feature is also available on the Honda WR-V, and is often the decision swinger for many buyers. Ford will be hoping that sunroof fans will make a beeline for the EcoSport S variants.
This apart, other new features of the compact SUV include accented interiors, a new multi-information display and instrument cluster, a 6-speed manual gearbox for the 1.5-litre Dragon petrol engine, smoked headlamps, blacked out grille and fog lamp enclosures and an 8-inch infotainment unit running Ford’s SYNC3 interface.
While S-badged models from Ford typically use a stiffer suspension set up, we don’t think that the EcoSport S will have stiffer suspension considering the fact that the SUV is already stiffly sprung. Any more stiffness could make the ride harsher, and considering not-so-perfect Indian roads, Ford may not want to go down that route.
The EcoSport will continue to use the 1.5-litre Dragon petrol 3-cylinder engine with 122 PS and 150 Nm, and the 1.5-litre 4-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine with 100 PS and 215 Nm. It remains to be seen if the EcoSport S gets the 6-speed torque converter automatic gearbox as an option on the petrol engine.
[“Source-cartoq”]
