Team-BHP - Whatever happened to the Ford Ikon 1.8D
Team-BHP

Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)
-   The Indian Car Scene (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/)
-   -   Whatever happened to the Ford Ikon 1.8D (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/2801-whatever-happened-ford-ikon-1-8d.html)

The C-segment has turned around. And turned around big time. All the major players, Maruti, Hyundai, Tata, Ford, GM have seen a turn around of their fortunes. Fiat has yet to do so, but is showing slightly better signs too!

Price cuts have really helped the cars a lot. The Ikon flair and CLXI/Lxi, the Esteem LXi, the Indigo, the Corsa 1.4GSi and Hyundai GLE/GLS all catering to the budget minded. Those who are also on a budget on running costs buy diesel cars. So the CRDi, the Esteem Diesel, the Tata Indigo Diesel and Petra 1.9 D have seen some reasonable levels of success.

In all this hullabaloo, one car has slowly seen its fortunes slip away. The Ford Ikon 1.8 D. While its stablemates, the 1.3 and 1.6 Rocam still sell like hotcakes, the 1.8D has really taken a beating. Its had to contend with the Hyundai Accent CRDi that literally kills the car in all aspects of performance and fuel efficiency and the tripartite of the Esteem, Indigo and Petra. Price revisions have occured, but no one is out to buy the car. So what has gone wrong?

As any auto salesman would say, a car needs constant innovation to keep people into the showroom. Same problem has been with the diesel. Other than fabric changes and the odd suspension and grille change, nothing has changed. The car is still the same. While the 1.6 is still a scorcher and the 1.3 is now updated to ROCAM status, the 1.8 with an apathetic 58 bhp really isn't upto the job. Its 1 ton weight penalises its performance, it still handles pretty badly and the price is a no-go with both the CRDi and the tripartite showing better value for money and core selling values. 5 years on, no one wants to buy this car. Or very few are showing interest.

A turbo charger that spools out a little more power is the answer to the situation. Maybe a CRDi too could be up to the job. But i guess since the first CRDi plant in India won't be up before 2006 (MICO-Bosch i suppose), Ford will find it an expensive proposition. So maybe, a turbocharger should come to the car's aid. Its also a relatively inexpensive move, with just a few components needing to be strenghtened, if any.

Ford, are you listening?

Revvmaster

Quote:

Originally Posted by [b
Quote[/b] (Revvmaster @ Oct. 06 2004,00:33)]Ford, are you listening?

Revvmaster

My only comment would that Ford does not seem to listen OR does not bother to listen, OR cannot afford to listen OR wants to listen but cannot act on it

Unless Ford introduces CRDi engine, the diesel Ikon has no future. No one's gonna buy an old timer when there is new techology available at a similar price.
Meanwhile, take look at the Accent. The old DLS hardly sold, but, the CRDi changed things. Moreover, there's hardly any difference in the performance of the petrol and diesel variants. The same cannot be said about the Ikon.

happy to see fiats fortunes turning around
but more seriously the ikon never sold because -
1. it was expensive and still is
2. it has no power
the ikon costs quite a bit and the accent crdi is on par when it comes to cost..
the crdi has better technology, power , FE going for it, a must for many diesel car owners
even if a buyer doesnot want a accent crdi then he will opt for many other option like lancer and petra...

a price cut and turbo may help but better sooner than later ford need to replace the ageing 1.8 lt endura engine with something more mordern or bring the price down and still add a turbocharger...
hopefully ford will realize and send it packing after the 1.3 endura with a fresh new engine.
maybe the fusions diesel powerplant can be adopted for the ikon


All times are GMT +5.5. The time now is 22:52.