Ford’s new EcoSport global small SUV, to rival the General Motors Opel/Vauxhall Mokka and its Chevrolet and Buick siblings, will get a new 1.5-litre turbodiesel engine in some markets when launched towards the end of next year.
The previous Ecosport was made and sold in Brazil from 2003 and has racked up more than 700,000 sales but the version that is going global and coming to Europe is a second-generation with sharper styling with undertones of the new Kuga (also going global as it also replaces the Escape in North America and Asia).
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The EcoSport is currently being developed in Brazil by an international team drawn from 20 countries and will be based on the platform of the Fiesta.
Powertrains will include the already-launched one-litre turbocharged direct-injection Ecoboost petrol engine seen in the B-MAX, Focus and destined for the redesigned Mondeo (also going global and to be sold as the Fusion in North America) plus a new 1.5-litre diesel that Ford has developed from the current 1.6 TDCi unit.
There will be two- and four-wheel-drive versions but Ford did not say where the all-wheel-drive components would come from at this stage, nor name source assembly plants by market.
It did claim the EcoSport would be a competent off-road vehicle, however, with 200mm of ground clearance, 25- and 35-degree approach and departure angles and 550mm of wading depth.
Ford Sync, the company’s voice-activated connectivity system which includes an automatic emergency assistance call-up function, will be standard.
The EcoSport will have a hidden tailgate handle integrated into the rear light cluster, a wrap-around rear screen similar to that on the original Mercedes A-Class and a tailgate-mounted spare wheel to avoid any negative impact on luggage space.
The car will be built in India, Brazil and China but Ford said it had not yet decided where European cars will come from.
