Team-BHP - Shouldn't Ford get the new 2017 Ford Fiesta to India?

There is a genuine market that appreciates well rounded, well engineered quality products with a bit of premiumness and no major flaws. It is a market that is restricted to the likes of Ecosport, S Cross, Polo GT and Jetta. It will be nice to have a real new option priced between the two VWs, especially considering the Jetta is now dead.

Bring it here with the 1.5 Ecoboost. Price it at 13-14L ex showroom. I will happily trade my City for it.

I am voting as 'Yes'. The last Fiesta had received price cuts and I was suggesting the same car to my friend just to find out they were going to stop selling her.

They removed the last Fiesta for reasons best known to them. I remember the last iteration in India was a good looking car with better-than-competition dynamics. So what happened ? They probably had to take her off as Ecosport was priced almost similarly ? Or because the Ecosport was selling like hot cakes, they thought of selling it at higher price (which actually brought it closer to the Fiesta) ?

I think Ford India was confused, they did not know what to do with the car so thought of removing it. Like Navjot Singh Siddhu says "As confused as a toddler in a topless bar"

Quote:

Originally Posted by ashwin489 (Post 4228421)

I'm not sure which 1.6 Ecoboost you're talking about, but AFAIK the Fiesta ST uses the 1.5L Ecoboost engine in a lot of markets.

https://media.ford.com/content/fordm...litre-eco.html

Of course, something really dramatic has to happen for Ford India to launch this one here. Something like an affordable 1.4 TSi Polo from VW.

Ahh, I see that Ford has updated the engine in their Fiesta ST this year's model. It used to be a 1.6 Turbo I4 producing 179bhp Looks like they switched to a 1.5 Turbo I3 producing 197bhp in the 2017 model. I'm a bit perplexed why they'd build a complete new engine, especially a 3 cylinder at that !

Quote:

Originally Posted by sabby_4c (Post 4228649)

Looks like they switched to a 1.5 Turbo I3 producing 197bhp in the 2017 model. I'm a bit perplexed why they'd build a complete new engine, especially a 3 cylinder at that !

From here in the US, what I understand from reading news - the current 1.5 Ecoboost 4 cylinder in the Fusion (a.k.a. Mondeo) is poor on fuel efficiency and is not comparable to the better-to-drive VW family of turbo petrols, both 1.4 & 1.8. I believe the new 1.5 3 cylinder will eventually replace this in their global product line as 3 cylinders tend to be more efficient in general and sound better than 4's in my opinion at least.

Furthermore, I believe the new 1.5 3-pot is the same block as the 2.0 4-pot with one pot chopped off. Potentially a similar story with BMW - the 1.5 3 cylinder in the Mini/lower BMW range/BMW i8 and the 2.0 liter 4 cylinder in every other car of theirs. Same goes with Jaguar's Ingenium line.

If the above is not true, i.e. the 1.5 is not related to the current 2.0 liter, then expect a new family of 2.0 liter 4-cylinders to follow the design and tech of this new engine. Essentially my point is, they have not developed a new engine for one car. It will be used in multiple outputs on multiple vehicles and be a part of a family.

Although I voted No, I want this to be launched in India. In the sedan version, it will continue to get chomped by City, Ciaz and Verna. In the hatchback style, it just does not have the pizzaz to make a dent.
but here is a thought - what if Ford were to retain the hatchback version, plonk a turbo charged 1.8 L petrol or get a hybrid variant? Can it carve a niche and then build on the good will of Eco Sport or Endeavour? The numbers may still be small but there could be a case of creating a small cult if positioned differently.