[chennai-indian]

Decidedly regressive movie to eliminate things like Driver armrest, cooled glove box, lumbar support etc. Not sure what is happening in Ford. Earlier, they never used to get the price right - For Ecosport, they got the price right when it was launched but now they will be driving away customers with this move. Will talk to some of the Ford guys I know about this.

[R-Six]

Originally Posted by GTO

Honestly, I don't care about touchscreens, and would much rather have an armrest instead.

For its depth of engineering, I'll still pick it over the Vitara Brezza

I have the same thought! It is still way better than the Brezza when it comes to build quality and drive! I was planning to put my money on Ecosport in 2017 and since the facelifted version is roumored to be introduced around Diwali, I might wait until that time. I hope they do not scrap any more features from the list by the time they launch the updated version though.

Originally Posted by GTO

That sales dip was due to the changeover to this updated model.

Thanks for the clarification, GTO!

[jetsetgo08]

While the omissions may not necessarily be a deterrent, but they are just about sufficient for a customer to walk away from Ford esp. the Ecosport, which I presume is currently the breadwinner for Ford India. Whereas, the same omissions on the Figo/Aspire might be of little significance as they already are sales duds.

However, ABS on the Ambient would have made ABS as standard across the range and would have negated these omissions.

Originally Posted by AJ-got-BHP

Is FORD targeting to pitch the New ECOSPORT to the Commercial Operators in order to book more volumes by removing the so called luxurious features from the New EcoSPort ?

I highly doubt. The existing fleet of Aspire/Figo could not impact the Commercial segment where the preference is for a Dzire, Xcent in the same order. An Ecosport taxi might be a benefit only to the enthusiastic driver and not the passengers.

[ascension]

My first post on T-BHP and it starts on a sad note. One of my favourite cars on the market is now half a lakh more expensive, for features I did not care much about. I was seriously considering buying one post the 'real' facelift; will have to rethink now.

[Mad Max]

I think we should force these manufacturers to follow a "Can you add this feature from a car accessory shop?" checklist.

Can you add -

Touchscreen - Yes
Lumbar support - No
Split folding seats - No
Cooled glove box - No
DRLs - yes
Reclining rear seats - No
Passenger storage box - Yes
Driver seat arm-rest - Kinda

I understand that some of the above can be done with hashing the interiors / systems but wouldn't look / function like OEM. It isn't clear whose idea this was but it's really confusing to position a vehicle as a mini-SUV and then remove features like split seats which are show-cased as a major utility feature of the vehicle.

Good luck, Ford.

[PraNeel]

Originally Posted by Nilesh5417

To summarize, if Ford takes away tons of bling and some decently useful stuff to keep the cost increase of including the touch screen at INR.20k, i think its a pretty good move. I feel that the value that this single inclusion brings in far outweighs what you lose in the bargain.

Originally Posted by Eyas337

Rest were pretty useless anyways, including:
- DRLs (were non LED and always get the attention of people during day time, indicating to switch off lights )
- Lumbar support - doesn't have the required range for it to be useful
- Cooled glove box (never works even in a brand new car, so literally non existent)

Originally Posted by GTO

@ Ford: Business rule #1. Never, ever, under any circumstances take away something you once offered. It's best not to offer something at all, than to do so temporarily & pull it back later.

While many owners are pointing out that some of the features were not useful and hence good riddance, however it reflects very poorly as a business decision [As pointed by GTO].
Their American mate Chevrolet also did the same thing to Beat by removing the auto ac from facelift, which didn't go well with customers.
Ford India has become so reactive, sometimes they decrease the prices, sometimes increase and then feature addition and deletion. This surely puts the consumer in a dilemma.
You need to make your product stronger, not confusing.

[arjab]

Slightly
Intriguing to see "premium" car maker like Ford (with Ecosport & Figo/Aspire) and Honda(Amaze, Mobilio, BRV), going cost-cutting-by-deleting-or-not-providing-features-way, while the apparently "el-cheapo" car makers like Tata and Maruti upping their luxe and feature quotient significantly. Tiago & Baleno being two recent examples.
Interesting. Let's see what the customer says now!

[MotoNanu]

Originally Posted by redbaron91

Just by 1 month of usage, I can tell the omissions on Titanium variation doesn't hurt much.
Driver Armrest : It's too short, narrow and wrongly placed. I was never able to rest my left arm on it and drive. All the time it was in retracted position.

Cooled glove box - Just a small diversion of AC into it. Doest cool up your drinks or water.

Storage under the seat - That's was useful when I had to keep few eatables during a long trip.

And DRL, which is rarely visible during day time.

IMO, Ford has removed few features which are not so useful at customer end, and loaded it with a touch screen which will definitely increase their VFM against Brezza.

Sorry, but it is hard to agree with this.
The driver armrest, even if not used by you can still be an useful feature to plenty and is not intrusive. (As you fold it away)
Similarly, having storage under the seat is a nifty feature which is always better than not having one!

I am personally NOT a huge fan of touch screen system and while it is a step to match the competition, removal of existing feature kind of nullifies the overall advantage, doesn't it?

[Self Driven]

I have a slightly different view with a Ecosport TDCi Titanium at home which is August '16 made. Those who go and buy Brezza do not go for the touch screen that ecosport did not provide earlier, It has the Maruti brand and all the engineering and better stuffs Ecosport had did not sell as much as the Brezza did. Though I agree that among the features removed, few features are name sake and few others were needed, will it dent the decision to buy an Ecosport? may not be the case.
But giving a standard feature and taking them out definitely looks very bad of a company which has no other model to speak volume of.

[Srinivas C]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

....... The armrest was the most useful thing for me!

.....

I can't imagine driving without resting my arm, on the ORR of Hyderabad, everyday !
It is short, but still required.

Infact the car itself has an ergonomic problem, but I have lived with it for all the other good things. The seat edge to steering distance, seat edge to footwell distance, were never compatible with average Indian height and the arm rest therefore provided some support for tired arms.

[prkiran]

Originally Posted by GTO

@ Ford: Business rule #1. Never, ever, under any circumstances take away something you once offered. It's best not to offer something at all, than to do so temporarily & pull it back later.

They could be taking a leaf out of Merc's book. Launch the car with full CBU spec, silently remove features as the model starts bringing in numbers. And Ford would be like, hey, if this works in the premium segment why not do the same with the aam admi?

[SRM]

What is it with feature omissions by these manufacturers who were segment toppers because of the cars and features that they offered? Hyundai did this with Grand i10, Elite i20 and now Ford following. These cars were best-sellers in their segment as they offered an overall package which was exceeding expectations and Maruti wasn't providing the same.

Now, since Maruti has started offering feature loaded cars, these manufacturers are going back! How could that be a strategy to compete with the market leader?

[redbaron91]

Originally Posted by MotoNanu

Sorry, but it is hard to agree with this.
The driver armrest, even if not used by you can still be an useful feature to plenty and is not intrusive. (As you fold it away)
Similarly, having storage under the seat is a nifty feature which is always better than not having one!

I am personally NOT a huge fan of touch screen system and while it is a step to match the competition, removal of existing feature kind of nullifies the overall advantage, doesn't it?

Thanks for your opinion. I was only referring to Titanium & Titanium+ trim level omissions. Other omission in remaining trim levels are really absurd, as they include aesthetic features and utility features which will definitely make more impact on customer who is going to buy a new car.

Talking specifically for omissions in Titanium & Titanium+, personally I find it less hard to give away those features mentioned above and get a touchscreen navigation, in place of an age old monochromatic display.

But I’ve few points to share here by thinking from side of an OEM manufacturer;

For example – DRL & armrest is be a unique part for Ecosport in terms of BOM of that vehicle. That means additional cost of procuring from a supplier. If they think a touch screen can increase the vehicle’s VFM, they have to do it, but with least possible cost impact. In order to do that, they removed few features which are not much sought after, or doesn’t give much value addition to the customer, so that cost is balanced to some extend for the manufacturer.I believe this must be based on a customer feedback as well.

Also, it is a clear case of our market requirement, which demands everything in a car, even at less cost.

[GJ01]

I dont own an Ecosport and do not intend to buying one in the future, but here are my 2 cents specifically on the Touchscreen HU. These touchscreen HU's look nice, but from a practicability of use - they don't offer much, on the contrary touchscreen HUs especially without steering mounted controls are actually a hazard.

There's another thread here on TBHP where 83 % of respondents have voted in favor of having real buttons / knobs over touchscreens

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...on-bane-6.html

With conventional HUs (that I have in my Fabia and Manza) I know the positions of the buttons for changing radio stations, volume controls etc, so I dont need to take my eyes off the road to switch to another station while driving - not so with a Touchscreen HU. For me, a touchscreen HU only has vanity value and with the trade-off being offered the Ecosport customer now stands to loose out on many practical and useful features in favor of a safety hazard.

[condor]

Those features brought value to the cars and they have gone ahead to remove them. The variants are looking pedestrian !

Ford may gain some rupees today. But I feel owners of the models with the features are going to hold on to their cars a little longer - thus denying Ford fresh sales in due course.

Sorry, Ford. This is not done !