Ford Launches new Ikon in India

Ford recently launched its revamped version of its popular model, Ikon, in India. The company is looking forward to reclaim the “Josh” excitement of its model back in the Indian car market. It is trying to woo its customers who have drifted away to other entry level sedans like Mahindra Renault Logan, Tata indigo and Maruti Swift Dzire.

It announced the diesel variants of its flagship model which would now be powered by 1.4 litre Duratorq TDCi engine while the petrol variant will be powered by 1.3 litre RoCam engine. The 1.4 litre Duratorq engine already marks its presence in the other models from Ford viz., Ford Fiesta and Ford Fusion.

The diesel version of the new Ford Ikon will be available at Rs. 5.19 lakh and the petrol version is priced at Rs. 4.59 lakh. Ford also plans to roll out petrol engines from its manufacturing unit in Chennai. The plant currently manufactures 60000 units of diesel engine. However, the overall installed capacity of the plant is 240,000 units. It is currently sourcing its petrol engines from South Africa.

''We have started with diesel engines but once our Chennai plant goes full steam in 2010, we may look at manufacturing petrol engines as well,” said Nigel E Wark, executive director (sales and marketing), Ford India.

Source: cartradeindia.com