Ford EcoSport bags 30,000 bookings in 17 days

Ford India's latest car, the EcoSport crossover, has managed to bag 30,000 bookings in just 17 days of its launch, a booking frenzy not witnessed by any other Ford model in the Indian market. Ford India, according to an official press release, states that the company is working hard to optimize deliveries and keep waiting periods at minimal levels. 

After the launch of the EcoSport, Ford India showrooms across the country have witnessed high footfalls with prospective car buyers keen to sample the EcoSport.  Many of the footfalls seem to have converted into bookings, as is evident by the high booking numbers in a short period of time.

The high number of bookings have come despite an early preventive recall of the crossover for the relocation of the glow plug control module. The Ford factory at Maramalainagar, off Chennai, is said to be capable of building about 6,000 units of the EcoSport each month, with this number including cars earmarked for the export market. 

Due to the high demand, waiting periods for the crossover have shot up across some Indian cities. For instance, Ford dealers in Bangalore are claiming waiting periods to the tune of 3-4 months for the diesel engined models of the EcoSport while the 1.5 liter petrol engined model is said to be commanding a waiting period of about 6 months.

The waiting periods for the EcoSport variants featuring the 1 liter EcoBoost turbo petrol engine stretch even higher, anywhere between 8 months to a full year. Ford India's Managing Director, Mr Joginder Singh, has stated that his company is working closely with its suppliers to boost production of the EcoSport in order to reduce waiting times.

The base petrol variant of the EcoSport starts at an ex-showroom Delhi price tag of 5.59 lakh rupees, a price that puts the crossover bang in the middle of segments populated by B+ hatchbacks such as the Maruti Swift and the Hyundai i20, and compact sedans such as the Maruti Dzire and the Honda Amaze.

The EcoSport is available with 3 engine options, spread across 10 variants. The maximum number of EcoSports dispatched to dealerships till date have been the 1.5 liter TDCI turbo diesel engined variants. The 1.5 liter petrol and the 1 liter EcoBoost turbo petrol models of the crossover have seen much smaller dispatch numbers.

The bias in dispatch numbers reflect the Indian car buyer's overwhelming preference for diesel powered models, especially in the SUV segments. While the turbo diesel and EcoBoost turbo petrol engined variants of the EcoSport are offered with a 5 speed manual gearbox as standard, the 1.5 liter petrol engined models are offered with a 6 speed dual clutch automatic gearbox as an option. All versions of the crossover are front wheel driven.