2017 Ford EcoSport facelift to be launched in October? What to expect?

It looks like Ford is finally ready to launch the new EcoSport in India. If the emerging reports are to be believed, the auto enthusiasts in India may not have to wait until November to hold on the steering wheel of the new EcoSport.

A report of AutocarIndia says that the new 2017 Ford EcoSport facelift is ready for launch in India in October but did not specify the launch date. It must be noted that the new EcoSport was earlier reported to be launched in November with the deliveries to begin in December.

In the new avatar, the Ford EcoSport hosts a slew of changes to take on the likes of Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza and Tata Nexon. The compact SUV will wear a new face with one-piece hexagonal grille at the front in place of the split grille in the current version. The new grille houses two horizontal chrome slats. There will also be newly redesigned headlamps, fog lamps and the front bumper. The side profile remains largely untouched, except the new alloy wheels.

2017 EcoSport will come packed with features such as touchscreen infotainment system with Ford's SYNC 3 software with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, cruise control, a speed limiter function, a rear-view camera and automatic climate control and others. The interior layout is also expected to remain the same as the current model.

Under the hood, the new EcoSport will mark the debut of the all-new Dragon series of petrol engines. The current 1.5-litre Ti-VCT mill is expected to be replaced with the 1.5-litre Dragon engine with an estimated power output of 120hp. The 1.0-litre EcoBoost turbo-petrol engine and 1.5-litre TDCi diesel engine will be retained for new EcoSport.

With substantial changes under the hood and the features, the new EcoSport is expected to be pegged at a higher price tag than the current model.