Ford has launched the company’s latest cross-hatchback – Ford Freestyle in India at a starting price tag of Rs. 5.09 lakh for the petrol version and Rs. 6.09 lakh (all prices, ex-showroom Delhi) for the diesel version. The top end variant of Ford Freestyle petrol cost Rs. 6.94 lakh while the top end variant of diesel cost Rs. 7.89 lakh. The Ford Freestyle is based on the facelifted Figo hatchback, which is yet to be launched in India. The Ford Freestyle available in six colours – White Gold,Canyon Ridge, Moondust Silver, Oxford White, Smoke Grey and Absolute Black. The bookings for the Ford Freestyle already started at Ford dealerships and the deliveries will commence shortly. The Ford Freestyle comes with better suspension & raised ground clearance and it will have the best-in-class service interval of 10,000 kilometers. In case, if you are overcharged by the service station then the company will pay your entire bill. The Ford Freestyle comes in four variant for the petrol & diesel – the Ambiente, Trend, Titanium and Titanium+. At such a price tag, the Ford Freestyle will compete with Maruti Suzuki Ignis, Toyota Etios Cross, Fiat Avventura, Hyundai i20 Active, Honda WR-V, etc. and when compared with the cars mentioned, the Ford Freestyle is somewhere 20 percent cheaper.
The Ford Freestyle will be offered in both petrol and diesel engines, mated to a manual transmission. The Ford Freestyle comes with brand new petrol engine. It’s a three-cylinder, 1.2-litre unit from the same Dragon family that also debuted a 1.5-litre version of the new EcoSport. The engine churns out 95bhp of power and 120Nm of torque. The petrol engine is mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox and there is no automatic option on sale as of now. The diesel unit has been retained from the Ford Figo hatchback, 1.5-litre 4-cylinder engine churns out 99bhp of power and 213Nm of torque. The diesel engine is mated to 5-speed manual gearbox. The claimed efficiency of the petrol and diesel engine is 19.0 kmpl and 24.4 kmpl, respectively.
The Ford Freestyle comes with a new design when compared with the Figo hatchback. The front of the Freestyle looks similar to the Figo and you will get black plastic claddings all around & plastic skid plates along with a new bumper up front & in the rear. The new grille looks more distinctive and the biggest visual differentiators are on the front side with C-shaped surrounds for the fog lamps. The Freestyle also gets a set of roof rails and it can hold up to 50kg of weight.
The Ford Freestyle interior looks identical to the updated EcoSport’s and it gets dual-tone interiors, a new high definition touchscreen unit which runs SYNC 3.0, acts a reverse camera display & supports both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity.
The Ford Freestyle is well loaded in terms of safety and it comes with ABS, traction control and airbags. You also get a push-button start, automatic climate control, automatic headlamps, rain-sensing wipers, electrochromic IRVM and 4 speakers. The Ford Freestyle’s ground clearance is an impressive 190 mm which is just 10mm less than EcoSport.
Press Release Quote
Commenting on the launch, Anurag Mehrotra, president and managing director, Ford India, said:
“The all-new Ford Freestyle is a cool-new car for the young, new age, emerging Indian customers who aspire to own an SUV-like vehicle. The compact utility vehicle is yet another segment created by Ford and will complement our existing portfolio of capable SUVs like Ford EcoSport and Ford Endeavour.”
