[Waspune]

Originally Posted by aniketi

Flop on day 1 .. Sorry to say this but i cant see anything which makes it sell here in India. Car looks like Figo only and there are hardly any differences from outside. Figo is already not doing great here and its almost a flop car now when you see numbers of cars like Baleno, Swift, I10 Grand etc.

It can give fight to cars like Honda Brio, Fiat Punto

Yes the differences aren't huge from the outside but Ford has worked on the following to make it more desirable:
1) Higher GC, added bulk
2) The fluid touchscreen from Ecosport
3) Bigger tyres ( Only Figo S has 15')
4) Introduction of the 1.2 dragon which should be superior to the outgoing 1.2. NVH might be high though.

Of course these features would make way to the facelifted figo as well but that is why Ford is launching them with a New Car

[sajo]

It looks less of a wallflower than the Figo , which though not bad looking, did nothing to make it stand out. With a competent diesel and added clearance, this should do better than its sibling, but not significantly better than the Etios Cross or the Cross Polo. i20 Active can do decent numbers, I dont see why this wont. I would certainly prefer this over any other hatches wearing hiking shoes.

[aniketi]

Originally Posted by Waspune

Yes the differences aren't huge from the outside but Ford has worked on the following to make it more desirable:
1) Higher GC, added bulk
2) The fluid touchscreen from Ecosport
3) Bigger tyres ( Only Figo S has 15')
4) Introduction of the 1.2 dragon which should be superior to the outgoing 1.2. NVH might be high though.

Of course these features would make way to the facelifted figo as well but that is why Ford is launching them with a New Car

Do you really think that will make any difference? I don't think so. If they can make such things for a hit car like Ecosport, they can get something out of it. But for car like Figo, which is not selling good it won't work for sure. People have already rejected it.

[Dr.Abhi]

Originally Posted by aniketi

Do you really think that will make any difference? I don't think so. If they can make such things for a hit car like Ecosport, they can get something out of it. But for car like Figo, which is not selling good it won't work for sure. People have already rejected it.

By that logic, honda shouldn't have tried for wrv which is based on honda jazz (which is also flop if we take honda brand pull into account). And if we go through previous six months sales figure, wrv is consistently selling more than jazz. So we cant just sit hands on hands thinking if that didnt work, it will also not. Indian automotive history is full of such fireworks or misfires we can say. Who would have thought santro will be such a success or nano will have no takers at all. So let the things unfold and dont draw pessimissm at this stage. Drive safe.

[amitjha086]

Originally Posted by strawhat

If we are going to categorise this car in Cross-Hatch segment then perhaps the most crucial aspect would be higher ground clearance especially since Figo suffers from a terribly low height. Have they increased the ground clearance?

Current figo has a GC of 174mm which higher than most cars in the segment.

[vvijay]

Originally Posted by aniketi

Do you really think that will make any difference? I don't think so. If they can make such things for a hit car like Ecosport, they can get something out of it. But for car like Figo, which is not selling good it won't work for sure. People have already rejected it.

The very reason why Ford hasn't used the brand Figo anymore. They've come out with an all-new approach which could be a hit or miss. IMO I would say Ford is at fault if only they did not try anything new on the story of Figo. Ford must be commended for not giving up on on a segment that has cut-throat competition from top players esp. in such a emerging dynamic market like India !

[VinodDevil81]

Originally Posted by aniketi

Flop on day 1 .Figo is already not doing great here and its almost a flop car now when you see numbers of cars like Baleno, Swift, I10 Grand etc.
It can give fight to cars like Honda Brio, Fiat Punto

Originally Posted by aniketi

for car like Figo, which is not selling good it won't work for sure. People have already rejected it.

Please don't be so negative and jump into hasty conclusions.
Let them atleast start selling it and let us wait for a month or two before passing a verdict and writing off the poor thing.

Everybody cannot be number one and attain the same sales figure of Baleno, Swift etc, as pointed out by you.
That doesn't mean that all others are flop or unsuccesful.

In a country like ours, where herd mentality still plays a major role in the car buying process, being number one in sales doesn't mean number one in quality, safety or many other criteria.

I'm sure if the same car had come out from Maruti stables, most auto-journos would have gone wah-wah over it and would have made such a hue and cry over how beautifully MSIL has managed to develop a cross version of the hatchback and how they have ironed out all the niggles of the hatchback in this cross version.
They would have dedicated a whole week full of articles and reviews to explain how smooth the new 1.2-litre 3-cylinder Dragon series petrol engine is and how cleverly Maruti engineers derived it from the 1.5 dragon petrol specifically to meet Indian conditions.
Since it is ford this time, not many are interested in all that.

We can't predict any model's success based on its donor car on whose platform it is based.
For instance WR-V is based on jazz, but just see how well it is performing for the past few months in the sales-chart.
Conversely, Stingray was based on the best-selling WagonR with even more added features, but we all witnessed how it turned out to be a huge flop.

So please give it some time to prove its worthiness and then we can make a judgement.

[arjab]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Probably a case of me jumping the gun and inferring the obvious.

The 1.2 is claimed to be derivative of the 1.5 in all reports, and ACI claims it's the same block. Did they possibly mean 'shorter' pistons?

Methinks Ford has "sleeved" (additional liners) down the cylinders to reduce cc. Also shortened the stroke.

[Nissan1180]

I got excited upon seeing the name. The pictures were enough to douse my hopes though. Even the Fusion was more innovative than this one. Trying a new name for an existing product by adding a few features does not work in India. Remember the Renault Scala and Nissan Sunny? Or the Pulse and the Micra? People still refer to both as Nissan products and the Duster as the Renault product.

The Figo has a loyal following and the company could use that brand equity to drive sales, by highlighting the biggest USP of Safety. Even if 10% the average prospective Baleno or Swift customers realized how good the Figo is in terms of safety, it would add upto more than the present sales of the model. Spending money on advertising a new brand, when you have a strong brand recall for a similar product, may hurt the company in the long run.

[benbsb29]

I don't get the point of this product. IMHO, the Ecosport should be Ford's utlity vehicle based on the small car platform, not a jacked Figo with lipstick. I dont see this dong well at all, and will just end up as another liability in development costs.

[narayan]

Look forward to seeing this on Indian roads soon with chrome overdose including a nice big front bull bar and a rear one too !

On a serious note - this is a very good move by Ford to extend the line up in the Figo platform and try to win the market which it couldn't with the Figo twins. Frankly, the Figo twins are very capable cars that failed in a market segment that just buys into 2 brands. Good to see Ford not being lethargic and coming up with such variants - it points to a changed organisation approach/priorities. Hope they start launching a few more cars in other segments - especially a Jeep Compass and Innova segments.

[vibbs]

A case of confused product development. I think Ecosport pioneered the compact SUV segment in India. Became a big hit. Many manufacturers wanted to cash in the same trend and came up with raised versions of their Hatchbacks to take a pie from this new market. But clearly none of them succeeded against Ecosport that was truly superior. By going the same way as their competition, I think Ford has taken a step back.

Needless addition IMO.

[A M]

It makes absolutely no sense to call it a new product. This should've been called the Figo facelift and Freestyle could be a new variant. It was the right opportune time to give the Figo a facelift along with an interior refresh before the Swift takes the market away. Freestyle is definitely DOA for Ford. I expect good discounts on it within a few months of the official launch.

Originally Posted by vibbs

I think Ecosport pioneered the compact SUV segment in India. Became a big hit.

Ford was indeed the pioneer in this segment but the product was Fusion, which flopped because I think it was way ahead of its time.

[aniketi]

Originally Posted by Dr.Abhi

By that logic, honda shouldn't have tried for wrv which is based on honda jazz (which is also flop if we take honda brand pull into account). And if we go through previous six months sales figure, wrv is consistently selling more than jazz. So we cant just sit hands on hands thinking if that didnt work, it will also not. Indian automotive history is full of such fireworks or misfires we can say. Who would have thought santro will be such a success or nano will have no takers at all. So let the things unfold and dont draw pessimissm at this stage. Drive safe.

WRV is very much different though it is based on Jazz. Its all together a new car with nothing similar to Jazz, do you agree? Here Ford has given new name but car is mostly same. I dont think Ford has any chance here, they are just wasting their time and money. Better get some other new car and try. At least they will have some chance in that.

Originally Posted by vvijay

The very reason why Ford hasn't used the brand Figo anymore. They've come out with an all-new approach which could be a hit or miss. IMO I would say Ford is at fault if only they did not try anything new on the story of Figo. Ford must be commended for not giving up on on a segment that has cut-throat competition from top players esp. in such a emerging dynamic market like India !

Indians are not fool anymore, last 5-7 years has just shown us that. By changing name, you cant get success. Figo was success but with new model they lost all that, unfortunately. Hope they bring something new in this segment. Though it has cut-throat competition, it has great volumes as well, right? Volume brings money & profits as well. Get right product and win market, who is stopping them? See Baleno, Grand i10, earning like anything.

Originally Posted by VinodDevil81

Please don't be so negative and jump into hasty conclusions.
Let them atleast start selling it and let us wait for a month or two before passing a verdict and writing off the poor thing.

Everybody cannot be number one and attain the same sales figure of Baleno, Swift etc, as pointed out by you.
That doesn't mean that all others are flop or unsuccesful.

In a country like ours, where herd mentality still plays a major role in the car buying process, being number one in sales doesn't mean number one in quality, safety or many other criteria.

I'm sure if the same car had come out from Maruti stables, most auto-journos would have gone wah-wah over it and would have made such a hue and cry over how beautifully MSIL has managed to develop a cross version of the hatchback and how they have ironed out all the niggles of the hatchback in this cross version.
They would have dedicated a whole week full of articles and reviews to explain how smooth the new 1.2-litre 3-cylinder Dragon series petrol engine is and how cleverly Maruti engineers derived it from the 1.5 dragon petrol specifically to meet Indian conditions.
Since it is ford this time, not many are interested in all that.

We can't predict any model's success based on its donor car on whose platform it is based.
For instance WR-V is based on jazz, but just see how well it is performing for the past few months in the sales-chart.
Conversely, Stingray was based on the best-selling WagonR with even more added features, but we all witnessed how it turned out to be a huge flop.

So please give it some time to prove its worthiness and then we can make a judgement.

Sadly I can't. Lots of people debated with me at the time of New Ford Fiesta as well. What happened? It was a super duper flop. I can see history repeating here

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by aniketi

WRV is very much different though it is based on Jazz. Its all together a new car with nothing similar to Jazz, do you agree?

Absolutely not. Its just a Jazz.

However - the Honda has some clever differentiation to make people prefer it over the Jazz - 1) Removed the sloping bonnet to get a crossover look and 2) Sunroof. Jazz was already a very spacious product and hence by doing the above changes - WRV was able to appeal to the mass market against competition such as Ecosport and Brezza.

Coming to the Freestyle - its playing in a rather irrelevant market of hatchbacks with just claddings and no differentiation. I do agree with you that it would flop - unless they price it so close to the Figo that it makes Figo irrelevant.