At the 2012 Sao Paulo Motor Show in Brazil, Ford unveiled the automatic and 4 wheel drive variants of the successful Ford EcoSport SUV. The news was awaited for long as emerging markets such as Brazil, India and China have developed strong demand for automatic cars. The interesting news is that the automatic variant featuring Powershift transmission has been spotted recently in Brazil.
Autossegredos.com, one of Brazilian automobile blogs has published a picture wherein you can see the EcoSport being carried on a transporter to a Ford dealership. At the rear of the car, if you look closely is a badge saying ‘Powershift 2.0’. Also the variant which has been spotted is the SE one, which strongly hints that Ford will offer the Powershift automatic gearbox on the same and higher variant Titanium as well.
Talking a little about the pricing of the EcoSport high end variants in Brazil, the 2.0 EcoSport Titanium variant is priced at 66,490 Brazilian Reals which converts to 17.52 lakh INR while the Titanium variant featuring a 1.6 litre engine comes 6,990 Brazilian Reals which convert to 17 lakh INR. Considering the pricing of these two variants, it is expected that the 2.0 EcoSport SE variant with Powershift gearbox will retail at around 63,500 Brazilian Reals which is slightly below 17 lakh INR.
This variant comes with the following features:
- Dual airbags
- ABS and EBD
- Passenger seatbelts and headrests
- Power windows
- Central locking
- Ford SYNC multimedia system with Bluetooth and voice command capability
What distinguishes it from the top end Titanium variant is a set of features exclusive to the latter. The list includes automatic climate control, keyless entry and start, automatic headlamps and wipers, parking sensors, leather seats and side curtain airbags, and a few other.
The top end Titanium variant with Powershift auto gearbox is supposed to be priced at around 74,500 Brazilian Reals which equals to 20 lakh INR. This car would go head to head with the most appropriate car from the segment, the Duster, which is also available with a 2.0 litre flex fuel engine and 4 speed auto gearbox.
Source – Autossegredros.com.br
