[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by narayan

i thought it did fairly well - atleast they sold a lot in Kerala ( any diesel sells well there i guess.. )

The Ikon 1.8D was not a bad car at all. Definitely sold a lot here in madras too.

@narayan.. how is the logan doing in kerala, it has a diesel too.

[maheshshanmugam]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

The Ikon 1.8D was not a bad car at all. Definitely sold a lot here in madras too.

@narayan.. how is the logan doing in kerala, it has a diesel too.

1.8D was a good car with the same great handling that comes with the Ikon petrol. Good mileage as well, particularly on long trips - the down side is the cost of spares and the poor service. They do really rip you at the service center so much so that I am scared to buy a Ford any time soon!

The low end torque of the diesel and the poor brakes were a combination for slow speed shunts as well! Had my one major accident with the 1.8 when I rammed in to a truck that braked suddenly.
Off topic I guess! Sorry!
Mahesh

[nikunj_cal]

Common sentiment at least here in Kolkata is Ford Cars mean bad A** ! Hence the sales of Ford in Kolkata is still relatively much lower as compared to other places !

[dhaval]

The Ikon was/will always be sold as a premium car(in terms of pricing) over the Indigo, Logan, or the Swift Dezire. IMO,well actually it doesn't make sense to launch the TDCi version, but to pave its way for the Fiesta Duratorq 1.6 TDCI this a good move by Ford i should say. But going further one question comes to my mind, as to what will happen to the best selling Fiesta 1.6 Petrol if the 1.6 TDCi is launched. The diesel powerplant will any day give a better mileage then its petrol counterpart thereby hampering the 1.6 petrol sales which Ford would certainly not want it to be...therefore IMO, a 1.9L TDCi powerplant for the Fiesta would be better. Lets keep it with Ford to decide

[swale84]

Originally Posted by dhaval

The Ikon was/will always be sold as a premium car(in terms of pricing) over the Indigo, Logan, or the Swift Dezire. IMO,well actually it doesn't make sense to launch the TDCi version, but to pave its way for the Fiesta Duratorq 1.6 TDCI this a good move by Ford i should say. But going further one question comes to my mind, as to what will happen to the best selling Fiesta 1.6 Petrol if the 1.6 TDCi is launched. The diesel powerplant will any day give a better mileage then its petrol counterpart thereby hampering the 1.6 petrol sales which Ford would certainly not want it to be...therefore IMO, a 1.9L TDCi powerplant for the Fiesta would be better. Lets keep it with Ford to decide

Dhaval, the current pricing of the Ikon Flair is pretty comparable to the Indigo and Logan. it isn't sold at that much of a premium

The launch of the 1.4 Ikon will pave the way for the 1.6 Tdci Fiesta, that way Ford will be able to justify pricing the 1.6 D slightly higher so as to maintain a reasonable price gap between the two cars.

Yup, the 1.6 Tdci will certainly eat into the sales of the 1.6 Petrol. The 1.4 D already gives very comparable driving pleaseure, I would imagine the 1.6 will demolish it!!

Suhail

[bharath.kan]

Getting back the almost discontinued model to the market is a killer to the current models ...so Ford for sure will think about the marketing for the Ikon Diesel version...

[dhaval]

Originally Posted by swale84

The 1.4 D already gives very comparable driving pleaseure, I would imagine the 1.6 will demolish it!!

Suhail

But I would say why to experiment with something that has already exceeded its product life cycle?? and mess up with whats going well currently? Agreed the 1.6 TDCi will surely do wonders with the Fiesta, but discontinuing the 1.4 TDCi with the Ikon 1.4 TDCi will not do any good for Ford: my personal opinion.
At the most what Ford can do is to use the present 1.4TDCi engine in the Ikon, and retain the same engine in the Fiesta aswell with some bhp boostup.

My 2cents
Dhaval

[1100D]

Originally Posted by dhaval

But I would say why to experiment with something that has already exceeded its product life cycle??

Can you tell me what defines a product life cycle?

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by dhaval

But I would say why to experiment with something that has already exceeded its product life cycle?? and mess up with whats going well currently?

Basically they are following the Maruti formula of offering an old gen car for cut rate pricing. Otherwise they have nothing to go against the Logan, Indigo, Desire D.

[swale84]

Originally Posted by dhaval

But I would say why to experiment with something that has already exceeded its product life cycle?? and mess up with whats going well currently? Agreed the 1.6 TDCi will surely do wonders with the Fiesta, but discontinuing the 1.4 TDCi with the Ikon 1.4 TDCi will not do any good for Ford: my personal opinion.
At the most what Ford can do is to use the present 1.4TDCi engine in the Ikon, and retain the same engine in the Fiesta aswell with some bhp boostup.

My 2cents
Dhaval

Without questioning Ford's decisions regarding how long they want to flog the Ikon, I see this as a win - win situation for them.

They package an existing engine(1.4 Tdci) into an existing platform(Ikon) with some interior / exterior upgrades and have a potential best seller to play in a segment that is seeing a lot of action right now.

The Fiesta with the new 1.6 Tdci will also probably get some styling upgrades and will get a fresh lease of life.

Even if they sell the 1.4 Ikon & 1.6 Fiesta diesels side by side, as long as they sell enough numbers of both, why not??

A lot of it depends on the price points the vehicles are positioned at with what differentials between them. If they play their cards right, I am sure all their models can co exist.

End result : Customers get more choice ergarding engine options, trim levels, safety features etc.

[HappyWheels]

Phew! Almost started a new thread on this!


Few more things that I heard are:
- The 'new' Ikon is going to have ABS with air bag only for driver
- Ford is working on cleaning up their A*S*S () : new training programs and customer handling work shops; I just hope they have the required impact.

The 1.8D was one of my favorite and would have brought it in 2005 had it not been discontinued (spares and service were a concern, but I find 1.8D's still running fine - a big mistake from my side!).

Hope they get their act right this time. Would be interesting to see how they work out the features vs price for this one.

[karanraheja]

They will seriously have to upgrade the interiors in the Ikon, especially the dashboard. Many people might think Ikon's product life cycle is over. But i still think it doesnt look boring to the eyes inspite of being on our roads for so many years ! Ford has to improve its A** if they want to compete with Dzire & Others. If Ikon tdci is priced right i wonder what will happen to the Logan !

[ram_hyundai]

If the interiors are changed and this engine plonked in and most importantly sensibly priced then flair has a chance.else this would not be that attractive as the dzire.
ram

[normally_crazy]

A spruce up of the interiors is definitely required as all of you have said. A little bit of exterior changes won't do harm as well.

And the price ofcourse - if priced well - could take on the Dzire.

[sreenivass]

Are they going to tune the engine and change gear box to keep up the spirit of Ikon (Josh Machine)?