This week Ford India launched the EcoSport SE. It doesn’t have the trademark boot-mounted spare wheel that made this crossover SUV look unique in the first place. At the same time, Ford India hasn’t discontinued the EcoSport S (with the spare wheel). The SE variant, the company says, features global design cues, borrowed from the models sold in the Americas and Europe, where this SUV is sold without a boot-mounted spare wheel.
The SE variant, introduced in the Titanium trim, is priced `10.49 lakh for petrol and `10.99 lakh for diesel. It’s a ‘connected car’ with the SYNC 3 infotainment system (Apple CarPlay and Android Auto) as well as Ford Pass integration.
Instead of the spare wheel, the SE variant gets an “easy-to-use puncture kit that will enable owners to repair tyre damage within minutes, without removing the tyre from its slot,” Ford India claimed.
The EcoSport, first launched in 2012, started the sub-4 metre SUV trend in India. It was followed by Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza (launched in 2016), Honda WR-V (2017), Tata Nexon (2017), Mahindra XUV300 (2019), Hyundai Venue (2019), Kia Sonet (2020), Toyota Urban Cruiser (2020), Nissan Magnite (2020), and Renault Kiger (2021), among others.