Ford launches global small car ‘Figo’ priced at Rs 3.5-4.48 lakh
US carmaker Ford launched its much anticipated global small car ‘Figo’ in the Indian market, priced at Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 4.48 lakh.Figo is Italian for “cool” – is a made-for-India compact car built on Ford’s global B platform.
The company said it will be exporting the car from India to various markets across the globe, with South Africa being the initial target. “For years, we have been seen as offering only premium priced products in India, and that has kept us as a small player operating in only 20 per cent of the market. With Figo, customers will see a premium product offered to the mainstream market at an affordable price,” Ford India executive Director (Marketing, Sales and Service) Nigel Wark told reporters here.
The car would be available with a 1.2 litre petrol and a 1.4 litre diesel engines. While the entry-level version of the petrol variant will come at Rs 3.5 lakh, the diesel one is priced at Rs 4.48 lakh.
The company claimed that the car would give a mileage of 15.6 kilometre and 20 kilometre in every litre in the petrol and diesel versions, respectively. The company is also looking at making India an export hub for the small car.
The large swept back headlamps, recessed fog lamps and the cleverly integrateed indicators are all hallmarks of a typical Kinetic design new generation Ford. The eye-catcher that runs from the indicator to the tail is angular, rather than a straight line, to reduce any visual heaviness that the car might have otherwise created.
“We are preparing for export and South Africa will be the first market where Figo will go out of India. We will be adding more markets to Figo’s list later,” Ford India Managing Director Michael Boneham said. The Figo would be produced at Ford India’s Chennai plant which has an annual capacity of two lakh units. “Other variants of the petrol engine are slated to be produced at the plant for eventual use in the global markets,” Ford India said.
The company started work on the small car in 2007 and the global unveiling of the Figo was done in September last year during the India visit of Ford Motor Company President and CEO Alan Mulally.
“We will become a significant player in the compact car segment with this car,” Mulally had said during the occasion. He had further added: “Our plan for India involves accelerating development of fuel efficient small cars. The small car market in India will double in the next one decade.” Currently small cars account for over 72 per cent of the 1.22 million units sold in India.
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Source: Times of India 9/3/2010
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3 Responses to “Ford launches global small car ‘Figo’ priced at Rs 3.5-4.48 lakh”
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Great price! But an engineered for India car whose rear windows dont roll down fully & indicator stalks are on the wrong side? Says much for Fords engineering prowess.
It seems to be more of a Ford Fusion introduced by Ford. It may hinder the progress as the reqiews for Fusion were not pretty good.
well even alto’s rear windows dont roll down completely and is the biggest hit ever…. and odnt think that indicator stalks being on the other side will make much of difference one just have to get used to it…..