Talking to Indian Autos Blog at the new Fiesta unveiling in Delhi, top Ford India officials fielded questions on the future platforms and the Fiesta hatchback.
Fiesta hatchback for India?-
Ford appreciates the kind of response the Fiesta hatch has generated among Ford enthusiasts in India. Facebook pages have been filled with questions on the Fiesta hatch, and Ford has taken note of it. But instead of the hatch, Ford says the demand for them to deliver a premium sedan is huge. Ford officials reiterated the confused positioning the hatch’ introduction will create in India as the Fiesta Classic is now costing less. The hatch Ford wants to sell is the Figo. The Fiesta hatch might not be part of the eight products to India by mid-decade.
What the Fiesta S did to Ford India -
Ford Fiesta 1.6S helped in the new Fiesta' development
As we mentioned earlier, the 1.6S variant has been discontinued. Its demise was silent but the product helped build a reputation for the Fiesta brand in India. Ford said they readily invested in the product and it delivered in ways they expected it to. There will be no S variant on the new Fiesta. The knowledge from developing the Fiesta has been put into the development of the new Fiesta for India.
On the future platforms for India -
Ford said B, C, CD platforms will arrive in India. Future models will be based on global platforms. Ford will manufacture different top-hats on these global platforms (like MPV or SUV using the same base) for India by mid-decade.
Ford Mondeo is the CD Platform vehicle that should make it to India
We can expect to see plenty of products on the B-Platform (perhaps even a MPV and an SUV) which the new Fiesta is based on. The next generation Endeavour will also be based on a global platform.
New Ford Focus is a popular derivative on the C-Platform
Popular B-Platform spin-offs are the Fiesta hatch and sedan, C-Platform underpins the Focus hatch, sedan and wagon, and the CD Platform is used on the Ford Mondeo. The next generation Endeavour could be based on the new Ranger platform (codename – T6).
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Ford has started the development of the new Ford Mondeo which will become a” world car” just like the Fiesta and Focus are planned to be. Riding on a new platform, named “CD4”, the Mondeo will be the first of new Fords to use this platform. Others expected to use this platform are both the next generation Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ mid size sedans.
[...] test mule speaks Ford’ mind and strategy – Different top-hats on global platforms, in this case the B-Platform. An EcoSport mule was spotted in Hortolandia, Brazil back in [...]
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[...] displacing under 1.5-liters. Ford India has told Indian Autos Blog that it will experiment with different top-hats on global platforms. Cost wise, the B-Platform is the most suitable for MPV and SUV [...]
[...] the opportunity of building a compact SUV on the Fiesta platform. The company will build different top hats on global platforms. This particular model could run under the codename B515, with production possibilities in Brazil, [...]
[...] week, top Ford officials opened up on the possibility of the Focus arriving to India. They said the C-Platform, which the Focus is based on, is heading to India along with the CD-Platform, which the Mondeo uses. Exciting times are ahead in Focus’ segment [...]