Ford has been in the Indian market in its current setup for over 2 decades now. Sadly, the American brand doesn’t even have 2.5% market share when we compare it to the industry sales (December 2017) figures. Ford brought in the new Figo to India back in 2015, but the new generation model has failed to bring in respectable sales numbers. In the recent months, Ford was unable to sell even 2,000 units of the Figo. Few months witnessed sales dip below 1,000 units as well.
So, to revive the dud Figo, the brand is now introducing the Ford Freestyle. While the Freestyle is nothing but the Figo on stills, Ford is calling it an all-new compact utility vehicle (CUV) for Indian consumers. But the consumers are smart!
Ford has announced that the Freestyle will go on sale in the 2nd quarter of 2018. But, considering how many people actually want the Figo, will this Figo based Freestyle find any or more buyers? Time will tell…
On the Freestyle, you get new bumpers at the front and back, new alloy wheels, skid plate like applique, body decals, roof rails, new front grille, black ORVMs, etc. Interiors were hidden today, but don’t expect quality & fit & finish to be majorly different compared to the Figo.
Powering the Freestyle will be a new three-cylinder 1.2L TiVCT petrol engine producing 96 PS of peak power and 120 Nm of torque. Ford will also plonk the 1.5L TDCi diesel engine that produces 100 PS peak power and 215 Nm of torque in the Freestyle. Safety equipment will include TCS, ABS with EBD and uniquely tuned EPAS. It will also benefit from up to 6 airbags. Ford will also introduce Active Rollover Prevention (ARP) on the Freestyle combined with Electronic Stability Control.
For infotainment, you will get the Ford SYNC 3 setup with a 6.5″ touchscreen head unit with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
So, would you consider buying the Ford Freestyle? Or rather buy a much more premium Hyundai i20 Active instead?
