[dZired]

Thank you to the Team-BHP fan (he prefers to remain anonymous) who sent this information in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts!

Ford EcoSport will soon get a new Touchscreen infotainment system, which will be offered only with the top-end Titanium+ variants (both petrol and diesel). This new feature addition will translate to a price hike of Rs. 20,000 (ex-showroom, Delhi) for the EcoSport's Titanium+ trim level.

The system in question is an 8-inch touchscreen unit, which will come with a DVD Player (video), rear view camera, satellite navigation, door ajar warning and Bluetooth connectivity. The screen will be placed on top of the centre console, and will thus replace the 3.5-inch MID unit found on the earlier model. The VIN cutoff for introduction of this new Touchscreen navigation infotainment system is MAJAXXMRKAHJ00291.

This feature addition is Ford's attempt to bring the EcoSport's feature list on par with that of the Maruti Vitara Brezza, which offers a touchscreen system on its top-end models. The Vitara Brezza is currently the EcoSport's biggest competitor in the compact SUV space. Addition of the new touchscreen system will likely help Ford to pull a few customers away from its Maruti rival. The automaker is also reportedly planning to launch the EcoSport facelift in India by the end of this year.

The EcoSport will also be losing some features across its variant range. The Trend trim level will lose reclining rear seats, rear defogger, vanity lamp, driver seat height adjust, 60/40 split for rear seats, rear wash & wipe and passenger seat storage box. Meanwhile, the Trend+ variant will now come with black roof rails, instead of the silver ones found earlier. It will also lose the passenger seat storage box, reclining rear seats and 60/40 split for rear seats. Both Trend and Trend+ variants will get an integrated centre headrest for the rear.

Ford has also removed driver seat armrest, lumbar support, cooled glove box, leather-wrapped handbrake & gear shift knob, and chrome scuff plates from the EcoSport range. The passenger seat storage box that was earlier offered with Trend, Trend+, Titanium and Titanium+ variants has now been limited to the top-end trim.

The aforementioned changes are expected to be seen on all 2017 manufactured models of the EcoSport in India. Revised ex-showroom Delhi prices of the EcoSport's Titanium+ variants are:

• 1.5D Titanium+ : Rs. 10,19,000
• 1.0P Titanium+ : Rs. 9,89,000

Link to Team-BHP News

[aravind.anand]

Not sure on how to react for this news. While the touch screen is indeed a really nice to have option in a modern crossover like the EcoSport, the future buyers are going to be missing many tiny features. Recent buyers need not fret too much, as they din't get a raw deal either, as their car would be much more loaded.
Is this a move after taking customer feedback and understanding that people don't really use these features in their cars, or is it a learning from Hyundai - whose recent products are not as loaded as Hyundais from half a decade ago used to be..?

[anurag.somani]

IMO, the useful features here are satellite navigation, reverse camera and a more contemporary/bigger color touch-screen.

A DVD player is not much useful in this era of tablets & free Jio SIMs.
The earlier reverse-parking-sensors do a great job, but some folks would prefer the camera.
Bluetooth/Door-ajar were present in MID unit as well.

From the deletions; the DRL, lumbar support & armrest are surely going to be missed.

Ford has increased the ex-showroom price by 37,000/- in past 1 month (I picked my Ecosport Titanium+ TDCi on 2nd December). Also, now with increased tax-bracket for Titanium+ TDCi (>10 lac), the on-road price will increase by a significant 50K.

Would I prefer the new-screen & the useful Sat-Nav - YES.
Would I trade it with the goodies removed (+ pay a 50K premium) - NO, THANK YOU FORD

[PraNeel]

While the touchscreen is a welcome addition, I don't think these deletions especially the useful ones like armrest, scuff plates, lumbar support, cooled glove box are going to be taken well by customers. This simply means cost-cutting.

To play the value card, they should have provided this over the current features. They anyways have increased the price by 20k for the touchscreen system.

[libranof1987]

This is an extremely raw deal for anyone who is not looking at the Titanium+.

Given the competition the EcoSport has been getting from Brezza, Ford should have added features, not removed.

Even if some of the features are only namesake for the majority of the customers, it is the *removal* of them that will make the market believe they are being shortchanged.

Maruti is smart in that sense; they barely offer anything, and keep adding a thing here and there.

Not providing features is better, from a perception standpoint, than to offer them and remove them later.

Originally Posted by anurag.somani

Would I prefer the new-screen & the useful Sat-Nav - YES.
Would I trade it with the goodies removed (+ pay a 50K premium) - NO, THANK YOU FORD

Really? You got the top-end so would you really miss the features it doesn't get?

Of the features the Titanium+ loses, I feel it's only the driver armrest that makes an impact. And there'll soon be an easy aftermarket retrofit. The OE armrest is barely anything to write about anyway.

[speedmiester]

This is stupid, I rather have the DRL, Lumbar support and Driver armrest than the touch screen system. Good that I got the earlier version.
The OTR will increase by more than 50K now. Good for the resale value of existing owners though.

As someone with a back injury, Lumbar support and driver armrest helps me a lot during my drives, I would have surely missed them.

[anurag.somani]

@LibranOf1987 -
Agreed. Trend+ especially was quite well kitted earlier.With all the deletions, it's been stripped of the aspirational value - will force people to either choose Titanium/Titanium+ or look outside Ford.

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Really? You got the top-end so would you really miss the features it doesn't get?

Of the features the Titanium+ loses, I feel it's only the driver armrest that makes an impact. And there'll soon be an easy aftermarket retrofit. The OE armrest is barely anything to write about anyway]

The touchscreen is more contemporary, a nice addition to match the competition.
Lumbar support - It is one of those small things which make the car ergonomically great, especially on long-drives.
An aftermarket armrest with the same leather texture isn't guaranteed - personally, I prefer a factory fit.
DRL & Scuff-plates, a little bling never hurts!

[theredliner]

What an incredibly stupid move!

Ecosport was selling surprisingly well against the Brezza and then Ford decides to roll out the red carpet for Maruti, hand them over a trophy saying we're bowing out of the competition.

I was once in awe of the incredible VFM Trend+ provided. It is the mid variants where the game really exists and they have stabbed themselves really bad by screwing up the only product that they have been selling in decent numbers

If the features and the VFM tag are taken away from the Ecosport, I don't see any reason why a common man would choose this over the Brezza, especially when Ford follows an idiotic dealer dispatch policy with unreasonable waiting periods and is notorious for poor and expensive ASS.

[i74js]

I would take it with a pinch of salt; As a car owner I would not want to compromise on any of the features that were present earlier and would be happy if the touch screen addition with GPS and Reverse Camera are offered along with it.

In this case, Ford is not being generous even to the Titanium Trim when it comes to touch screen, instead takes out features from across the trims without the addition of touch screen; and on top of it increases the asking price of the car ! Beat that !

To me it seems that Ford India is testing the waters with this addition and simultaneous withdrawal of features and would see the market response before making the touch screen available across multiple trims.

[jayakumarkp]

So many features being sacrificed in the name of Cost cutting!
Center Armrest at the least should have been maintained.
Also, the touch screen does not seem to support either AndroidAuto or Apple Carplay. But the size of 8" sounds good.

Hope, they will also move the touchscreen to the smaller Figo/Aspire lineup soon.

[swiftnfurious]

Is there a change in the top management? Can't believe what Ford just did. They seem not to want in the good books of people. They were so well priced at the time of launch. Then the waiting lists soared and they kept reducing the manufacturing and prioritised exports over the Indian market. They deleted some features and hiked prices along with it; when t-bhp brought it up, they revised the hike.

They dropped prices when Brezza was launched. They made the best move with introducing ABS / Airbags in the lower variants and increased the engine tune as well. Now, they have reduced features and increased the prices once again. I think only Ford can do such things and not anyone else.

Can't we fit the same touchscreen aftermarket? Or is there a dash re-design? I'd not bothered if they had kept all the features on Titanium & Titanium+ variants atleast. They just crossed the 10L+ barrier for the top ends and the customers will have to shell even more with the extra road tax.

[AYP]

A huge loss for someone looking at trims other than the Titanium+. Infact even the Titanium+ customers will feel a bit shortchanged but the touch-screen might negate it to some extent.
The prospective buyers of other trims, will definitely feel shortchanged. Looks like Ford just wants to match upto the Brezza and not excel it in any way. Not a very positive approach I must say.

[Chetan_Rao]

After spending nearly two years without a personal car, I was seriously considering the Ecosport. Was expecting to see if the spare-in-the-boot option becomes available on the facelift. That didn't happen (probably never will), and now this!

Thanks for making my mind up for me Ford. Keep smoking whatever it is you've got, you'll need a good dose once the Ecosport numbers dry up.

[Vish_Janu]

Originally Posted by jayakumarkp

So many features being sacrificed in the name of Cost cutting!
Center Armrest at the least should have been maintained.
Also, the touch screen does not seem to support either AndroidAuto or Apple Carplay. But the size of 8" sounds good.

Hope, they will also move the touchscreen to the smaller Figo/Aspire lineup soon.

I was expecting Ford will add SYNC 3 infotainment system to Ecosport now, looks like I was so wrong. Regressive and poor move by Ford to wait till Diwali to add Sync 3 systems. I was eagerly looking forward to buy it, not anymore.

[vinit.merchant]

I feel, the place where the touchscreen is mounted might be a little stretch for the driver to operate.
The numpad is within easy reach, cannot say the same for the screen above it.

Does this also mean a longer wait for the launch of the facelift?