Ford has a secret saloon (B376) planned for India
July 5th, 2005 Leave a comment Visited 74 times, 1 so far today
Ford has a secret saloon (B376) planned for India
A leading auto magazine in India has released scoop photos of a brand new car from the stables of Ford planned for launch this year. The expected date of the launch of this saloon is sometime later this year and the base for this platform is B376. Interestingly, this model is very new and has not been released in any market of Ford in the world.
Ford is developing this product for basically the Indian and Chinese market. The company is unlikely to discontinue its flagship product Ikon for now and the model is expected to compete with range high models like the Honda City. The inside sources from the company says that the car would come powered by a range of two engines powered by 1.6 petrol and 1.4 turbo diesel.
The diesel variant is going to be an interesting bet considering Honda lacks that option in its City range and the Accent CRDi has absolutely no competition in its class. The petrol engine is expected to be from the existing Ford Fusion model and has been developed in cooperation with the Japanese auto giant Yamaha.
The 1.4 turbo diesel is a TDCI unit developed by ford in collaboration with PSA (Peugeot and Citroën) and develops an average 67bhp. The car is expected to have better interiors than the Ikon and would outsource most of its interiors from outside India. This would increase the costing for the company though the pricing would be a crucial aspect for the company to make it a big success here in the Indian market.
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July 8th, 2005 at 7:36 pm
How is B376 related to the Ford Fiesta Sedan already sold in Brazil?
August 4th, 2005 at 5:56 pm
I see no purpose for Ford to discontinue the top selling Ikon(the best in its category). However, the new B376 should prove to be a threat to Accent CRDI and hopefully Honda City if its thought of in a new way rather than a replacement for the “Josh Machine”/Ikon.
August 11th, 2005 at 2:06 pm
i think the ford should stop ikon and bring its upgraded model of 1.3 and 1,6 engines
September 15th, 2005 at 11:14 pm
ford shoud go in for the 1.6 TDCI engine for the new B 376 Going to be launched from India as the World car
September 15th, 2005 at 11:21 pm
Ford shoud go in for the 1.6 TDCI engine for the new B 376 saloon to be launched from India as the world car to prove with Honda City & Optra
September 24th, 2005 at 10:41 pm
Ford should release diesel version of fusion in india.
December 28th, 2005 at 5:46 am
Now that it is launched, it does appear I was right after all: the cars are related, on the same platform, though there are distinct sheetmetal differences. In addition, the Indian Fiesta has some changes under the skin.