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Old 13th January 2020, 15:09   #1
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Ford Figo and Aspire 1.5L Petrol AT discontinued

Thanks to the Team-BHP fan (he prefers to remain anonymous) who sent this image in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this page!

According to a leaked document, Ford has discontinued the 1.5-litre petrol automatic variants of the Figo, Aspire.

Ford Figo and Aspire 1.5L Petrol AT discontinued-image0.jpeg

The 1.5-litre, 3-cylinder petrol engine produced 121 BHP @ 6,500 rpm and 150 Nm @ 4,500 rpm and was offered with a 6-speed automatic transmission. There is no word yet on the replacement petrol AT variant.

The document also reveals that the Figo, Aspire and Freestyle will no longer come in Absolute Black exterior colour. Deep Impact Blue has also been discontinued from the Figo and Aspire line-ups.

Link to Team-BHP News

Last edited by TusharK : 13th January 2020 at 15:30.
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Old 13th January 2020, 15:20   #2
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re: Ford Figo and Aspire 1.5L Petrol AT discontinued

Quote:
Originally Posted by TusharK View Post
The 1.5-litre, 3-cylinder petrol engine produced 121 BHP @ 6,500 rpm and 150 Nm @ 4,500 rpm and was offered with a 6-speed automatic transmission. There is no word yet on the replacement petrol AT variant.
Correct me if I'm wrong. Did the Freestyle ever come in a 1.5 AT variant, or any AT version for that matter? I see that's what the document also says, are people at Ford confused themselves. I, for one, have been looking forward to that as my possible next car.
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Old 13th January 2020, 15:29   #3
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Re: 1.5L Petrol AT Figo, Aspire & Freestyle discontinued

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Originally Posted by 2cents View Post
Correct me if I'm wrong. Did the Freestyle ever come in a 1.5 AT variant, or any AT version for that matter? I see that's what the document also says, are people at Ford confused themselves. I, for one, have been looking forward to that as my possible next car.
You are right. In India, the Freestyle never came as an automatic. But I think I remember looking at videos reviews from places like Colombia (I think..not sure) where it did come with 1.5AT.

Not sure if the guys who released this know anything about the car themselves.

Another gripe I have is the deep impact blue colour being discontinued. I have seen this colour in Bangalore near Ecospace tech park and it is an amazing shade. Not sure why they would want to discontinue it.
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Old 13th January 2020, 15:42   #4
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Re: Ford Figo and Aspire 1.5L Petrol AT discontinued

There are probably less Figo/Aspire AT owners in India than I have fingers & toes. Unicorns are easier to spot!

Practically no local supply, of what could've been a reasonably successful variant with urban consumers. If the much-maligned VW, with a known problematic DSG can move the volumes of the Polo GT TSi they do (the motor itself is probably the best small petrol in existence), Ford could've done much better with an acclaimed engine mated to a robust TC autobox, if they'd tried.

Last edited by Chetan_Rao : 13th January 2020 at 15:59.
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Old 13th January 2020, 15:47   #5
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Re: Ford Figo and Aspire 1.5L Petrol AT discontinued

This has to be one of the greatest mysteries in recent times in the indian automatic space. Why did they even release the autobox variant if they were going to discontinue this so shortly thereafter?

If the answer is low sales, Ford has only themselves to blame especially at a time when automatic variants are fast becoming the rage in the small hatch segment. No marketing, no visibility, unenthusiastic sales people for this variant and absolute lack of information about the model. So much so that many people don't even know that such a variant exists of ever existed. Certainly a lost opportunity fr FOrd - they could have really made this model work with the right kind of marketing and pricing.

Last edited by arindambasu13 : 13th January 2020 at 15:55.
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Old 13th January 2020, 16:08   #6
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Re: Ford Figo and Aspire 1.5L Petrol AT discontinued

I tried to get my hands on Aspire AT, booked in December 2018 after taking the TD and waited for 5 months for them to deliver, but that didn't happen. I am not sure why Ford did not want to sell these and why to introduce them to the market in the first place.

Looking back I think it was good that they didn't deliver , I purchased Venue AT instead.
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Old 14th January 2020, 03:16   #7
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Re: Ford Figo and Aspire 1.5L Petrol AT discontinued

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Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao View Post
There are probably less Figo/Aspire AT owners in India than I have fingers & toes. Unicorns are easier to spot!
Totally agree. In the past 3 yrs of owning a Figo DCT, I have not come across a single Auto Figo/Aspire owner other than one or two folks on T-Bhp.
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Old 14th January 2020, 09:01   #8
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Re: Ford Figo and Aspire 1.5L Petrol AT discontinued

Ford Figo/Aspire AT has not been very popular for quite sometime. While I was searching for online reviews, I hardly found any. I walked in to their dealership on the first week of December during their midnight sale week and they said they don't have any stock of automatic Figo/Aspire. With the criticism that they don't have automatic on their top-end variant Titanium+ leaving the automatic version without 6 airbags and Android auto/Apple carplay, I was thinking that they would probably address it now, but they have taken a totally opposite decision by dropping AT altogether. Quite disappointing.
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Old 14th January 2020, 09:27   #9
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Re: Ford Figo and Aspire 1.5L Petrol AT discontinued

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao View Post
There are probably less Figo/Aspire AT owners in India than I have fingers & toes. Unicorns are easier to spot!

Practically no local supply, of what could've been a reasonably successful variant with urban consumers. If the much-maligned VW, with a known problematic DSG can move the volumes of the Polo GT TSi they do (the motor itself is probably the best small petrol in existence), Ford could've done much better with an acclaimed engine mated to a robust TC autobox, if they'd tried.
Back in 2015 I shopped for a petrol automatic car for my dad and had shortlisted the Polo GT TSI and the Figo AT. They may be in the same segment but are poles apart in terms of FTD factor.

People still buy the same Polo GT TSI in 2019!! That says a lot

Leaving aside the Polo, the Figo/Aspire AT deserved to sell more.

Quote:
Originally Posted by nisshith View Post
I tried to get my hands on Aspire AT, booked in December 2018 after taking the TD and waited for 5 months for them to deliver, but that didn't happen. I am not sure why Ford did not want to sell these and why to introduce them to the market in the first place.
Quote:
Originally Posted by haldar_siliguri View Post
Totally agree. In the past 3 yrs of owning a Figo DCT, I have not come across a single Auto Figo/Aspire owner other than one or two folks on T-Bhp.
Quote:
Originally Posted by skarthiksr View Post
I walked in to their dealership on the first week of December during their midnight sale week and they said they don't have any stock of automatic Figo/Aspire.
Deja vu!

Ford couldn't sell me a Figo AT in 2015. Not even from the factory. They sold me an Aspire AT which had to be brought from the factory.

Petrol automatics has been an Achilles heel for Ford. It never worked out well.

Anyway here's the rarely seen Aspire 1.5L Petrol DCT.
Attached Thumbnails
Ford Figo and Aspire 1.5L Petrol AT discontinued-dsc_0081_anne_original.jpg  

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Old 14th January 2020, 09:57   #10
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Re: Ford Figo and Aspire 1.5L Petrol AT discontinued

[quote=TusharK;4730271]Thanks to the Team-BHP fan (he prefers to remain anonymous) who sent this image in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this page!

According to a leaked document, Ford has discontinued the 1.5-litre petrol automatic variants of the Figo, Aspire.


Not surprising to be honest! Ford was never to keen to sell the Figo AT. When i got my 1.5 TC AT in November 2019, there were exactly 2 white Figos of all the showrooms i checked in Chennai. Dealers already knew that there was no point in taking a booking since they knew they couldn't deliver. Chennai Ford, Arrumbakkam, surprisingly had 2 November manufactured vehicles. One of which i picked up and the other was gone by the time i took delivery. No regrets though. Absolute pleasure to drive this pocket rocket!!
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Old 14th January 2020, 10:12   #11
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Re: Ford Figo and Aspire 1.5L Petrol AT discontinued

Ford cannot complain or talk about competition benchmarking and demand analysis when there is 0 marketing done for the automatics. Dealers are left clueless on the Figo/Aspire automatics. Almost all people who had purchased the Figo/Aspire automatics have gone on to force the dealers to get them the models. If only they had provided the Automatics for the media drives, they would have seen some volume. If Ford does not take a single step to sell a product, they cannot complain about the market. They have only themselves to blame.
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Old 14th January 2020, 11:36   #12
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Re: Ford Figo and Aspire 1.5L Petrol AT discontinued

I was looking to buy a car a few months back and one of the options was the Figo automatic. Here's how that went:

1. I call the Ford showroom that's closest to my house (which is actually 8 kms away). They tell me they don't have a car for test drive. No alternative is suggested.

2. I call up the biggest Ford dealer in Chennai next. They don't have the automatic version of the Figo either, but they say they can bring the Aspire AT instead. I agreed, mostly because I didn't have any choice.

3. Car was scheduled to come in the evening (I don't remember exactly what time or day). But it's 7 pm already and nobody has showed up. My POC is not picking up my call either.

4. I get a WhatsApp message saying that the car has had a puncture and can't be brought that day. They will bring it the next day instead. I can slightly sympathise because the dealer is 16 kms away from where I live.

5. I had other work the next day, so the TD experience was rushed. While 4 people had come to my house, the guy who actually sat in the car told me I had to ask one of the other guys all the questions.

6. So I go back and pick up the remaining 3 as well. Three guys from the showroom and just me in the car made me highly uncomfortable.

7. The driving experience was decent. But this wasn't even the car I was looking to buy. Test driving a car means looking at the whole package, something I never got to do.

In the end, I got myself a Polo GT TSI. Here's how that went.

1. I called up the service centre thinking that was a dealer. Guy takes my details and says someone will call back.

2. Dealer call me at 3:30, says he will be there at 4:00 sharp.

3. Sales rep is here at 3:58. We get to drive the correct car, and get a good feel for it.

I wasn't expecting much from the sales experience, given how much of a bad rep VW has in general. But I'll be damned if their sales experience throughout wasn't a solid 9.5/10.

So no, I'm not surprised that the Figo is going away. It was never properly here to begin with.

Last edited by SS8939 : 14th January 2020 at 11:40.
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Old 14th January 2020, 14:49   #13
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Re: Ford Figo and Aspire 1.5L Petrol AT discontinued

From someone who owns a Aspire DCT, this comes as a surprise. The DCT has known issues and I was hoping that TC version would sell. But Ford had goofed up big time with Figo twins. Ford is clearly not interested in our market. They had a good opportunity to bring something like Seltos because there was nothing above Ecosport segment and did nothing, and watched Creta and then Seltos run away with the segment.

I have not yet faced any major issues with the DCT, but the extended warranty will be over by this year end. Hope it will work flawless for another couple of years.
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Old 14th January 2020, 14:56   #14
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Re: Ford Figo and Aspire 1.5L Petrol AT discontinued

Looks like my December'19 made Figo AT might have been one of the last deliveries of the variant!

Brilliant car let down by lack of marketing, without Team bhp even I wouldn't have known about it.
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Old 15th January 2020, 10:14   #15
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Re: Ford Figo and Aspire 1.5L Petrol AT discontinued

With the Figo 1.5 AT gone now, is there any option for a buyer looking for a hatchback with a torque-converter automatic? Hyundai too has discontinued their Grand i10 AT in the TC guise.

The Figo AT had most things going for it as a product, be it the mechanicals, overall package or the price. We BHPians were happy when Ford replaced the DCT with a proper 6-Speed torque converter. Ford themselves screwed up the product, and we all know how.

They could've also introduced the 1.5 Dragon engine with a manual transmission, badged it as the Figo S or Blu or whatever (instead of the lame sticker job) and that would've become a good alternative for the JTP twins, with simpler mechanicals.

Discontinuing the 1.0 EcoBoost engine is understandable, but discontinuing the Figo AT is just shooting themselves on their own foot.

I am getting a feeling that all these moves are subtle indications of the things that are going to happen to this company in the future.
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