The Made-in-India (Made in Chennai to be specific) Ford EcoSport has already reached its first export destination, Nepal, in the beginning of this month.
Last week, Ford India commenced exports of the EcoSport to South Africa.
A company spokeswoman confirmed the plan to Indian Autos Blog yesterday but refused to detail out the number of units marked for exports and the models/variants in the export plan.
The EcoSports would be shipped from the Chennai Port. Incidentally, the Chennai Port Trust has allotted Ford India a dedicated berthing space for parking 500 cars (Ford India also exports the Figo to South Africa, among 36 other destinations).
After going through Ford South Africa's official website, we learn that all variants that we see in India would be retailed. This includes the base 1.5-liter TiVCT petrol which will be available with a 5-speed manual or Ford's 6-speed dual-clutch PowerShift automatic, the 1.0-liter 3 cylinder turbocharged Ecoboost engine which will be available only with a manual transmission and a 1.5-liter TDCi diesel engine which comes with a 5-speed manual.
South Africa, like India, will get the EcoSport with front wheel drive only. The Ford website claims an official fuel efficiency of 17.24km/l for the Ecoboost variant under local test conditions.
The South African media report prices ranging from about 215,000 South African Rand (INR 13.04 lakhs) to 260,000 Rand (INR 15.8 lakhs). An official price announcement has not been made though, but its only a matter of time.
While Ford India has taken up exports of the Urban SUV to Nepal and now South Africa, the waiting list in India seems to be increasing by the day.
Ford has announced that it will export the India-made EcoSport to Europe from late this year or early next year. Ford subsidiaries or distributors in Middle Eastern countries, Sri Lanka and Vietnam are expecting the first lot of EcoSports by the end of 2013. These regions are almost certainly on Ford India's export roster.
Eventually, Ford will manufacture the EcoSport in five global locations - Elabuga in Russia, Rayong in Thailand, Chennai in India, Camacari in Brazil and Chongqing in China. The vehicle will be retailed in 62 countries by the year 2017.
