Ford Ecosport, was launched in 2012 with fanfare and is valid as a product to date thanks to various updates. A SUV ahead of its time has to say goodbye to the market that is loved in. A default choice for every SUV fan for years before competition came in and took the market one by one. The manufacturer loaded it with so many features, it was unheard of back then. For a good four years, it remain almost unchallenged and till the very end, it was a choice for people who couldn’t think of anything and said, “you know what, I will get the Ecosport”.
The SUV is now gone as Ford’s unprofitable India operations shut down and it winds up every bit of operation in the country and leaves. Shutting down the Figo and the Aspire along with the even more popular Endeavour now gone entirely with no chances of it coming back as an export model which was rumored in between. The manufacturer is selling of both its plant in Chennai and Gujarat.
The Gujarat plant may go to Tata Motors very likely as there are talks in process for the last few bit of agreements. Chennai plant is also on sale but has few buyers who are still evaluating the basics to proceed. Many emotional videos and photos are seen on social media as the factory workers say good bye to the car they made for a decade. The formidable replacement is now SUVs in the same category such as the Tata Nexon and Mahindra XUV 300 which are almost befitting that same place in the market, but none of them will have the Ford DNA and character that made the Ecosport truly special.