2017 Ford EcoSport facelift ready for India launch: What to expect from this new avatar?

Four years is a long time for vehicles in India to keep up its freshness without major refresh. Ford launched the EcoSport in 2013 and being the early bird, the compact SUV got healthy sales. Four years down the line, it is already late for the EcoSport to get its much-needed TLC now. The good news is that, the Ford EcoSport facelift's launch in India is round the corner.

Unlike in 2013, the EcoSport now has stiff competition from Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza and Tata Nexon. Ford is well aware of that emerging challenges. Hence, EcoSport is getting more than just a cosmetic surgery. Let's take a look on what is new in the 2017 EcoSport.

Design- The compact SUV will wear a new face which is a blend of bigger SUVs of Ford such as the Kuga and the Edge. A new one-piece hexagonal grille is the noticeable change at front which is in place of the split grille in the current version. The new grille houses two horizontal chrome slats, while the headlamps, fog lamps and the front bumper have been tweaked. The side profile remains untouched, barring the new alloy wheels. At the rear, Asia-spec models retain the rear mounted spare while global spec forgo it.

The basic design of the dashboard will remain the same, but the centre console will get a new layout. The highlight here will be a large touchscreen infotainment system. Tweaked instrument cluster, steering wheel and body-coloured inserts will be other additions.

Feature packed- To stay on top in the compact SUV game, 2017 EcoSport will come packed with features. These will include touchscreen infotainment system with Ford's SYNC 3 software which is compatible to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The new EcoSport will also boast of cruise control, a speed limiter function, a rear-view camera and automatic climate control and others.

New petrol engine- According to Autocar India, 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.