Ford India launched the second generation Figo starting at Rs 4,29,900 (Ex-Showroom Delhi) on Wednesday.
The prices are introductory and Ford has prices it aggressively looking at the upcoming festive season.
The first generation Figo had helped Ford break into India and make the brand a household name. With the new car, Ford has decided to make India a hub for its small car. With two factories in India at Chennai and Sanand, Ford is looking to service not only India but export the car to 50 more countries.
The car follows Ford's global design philosophy and sports a grill, which will remind people of an Aston Martin.
Talking about safety, the base variant of the 2015 Figo gets a driver airbag, whereas other trims get dual front airbags or six airbags in case of the top-end Titanium+ variant.
The car comes with the SYNC Ford AppLink to allow drivers to control their phone, entertainment and apps, hands-free.
"Built on Ford's latest global platform, the all-new Figo is an able and worthy successor to one of Ford's most well-known and trusted nameplates in India," said Nigel Harris, President and Managing Director, Ford India.
The car is available with three engine options, a 1.2-litre Ti-VCT petrol, a 1.5-litre Ti-VCT petrol which shall only be available with a 6-speed Powershift automatic and the 1.5-litre TDCi diesel engine. The prices for the diesel variant start at Rs 5.29 Lakhs and go up to Rs 7.40 Lakhs (Ex-Showroom Delhi).
The sole automatic is priced at Rs 6.91 Lakhs.
The 1.2-litre petrol can give out 64.7 KW of power and 112 Nm, the 1.5-litre petrol does 82.3 KW and 136 Nm while the 1.5-litre diesel can give out 74 KW and 215 Nm of torque.
Talking about the future of Ford in India, Anurag Mehrotra, Executive Director, marketing said, "An update for the Ford EcoSport should be expected, but he refused to divulge details of when it will be touching Indian shores." He also confirmed that the new Endeavour will be launched by the end of this year.
The car's new TVC will move away from its previous brand positioning strategy of being a family hatchback. This time, the focus is on how technology eases the process of driving a car.
When asked about launching a car with a smaller engine than the Figo, Nigel added that the company won't be able to meet the quality expectations of the consumer at such a low price, thus, ruling out any small-car plans.
With this car, Ford has moved from launching a hatchback and adding a boot to it. They have reversed the trend by launching the Figo Aspire first, which was a compact sedan and have now launched the hatchback version of the same.
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