2018 Ford Aspire launched at Rs 5.55 lakh

Ford launched the Aspire facelift in India starting at Rs 5.55 lakh for the base petrol Ambiente trim and going up to Rs 8.14 lakh for the top-spec diesel Titanium+ variant. The petrol-automatic combination is available only on the Titanium trim and is priced at Rs 8.49 lakh*.

At this price point, the new Aspire is Rs 20,000 less than the outgoing model, which was priced between Rs 5.72 lakh and Rs 8.69 lakh for the petrol variants (including the automatic) and Rs 7.44 lakh to Rs 8.46 lakh for the diesel trims.

Available in four trims, the new Aspire comes with more safety kit as standard, adding rear parking sensors to ABS with EBD, two airbags, adjustable front and rear seat headrests and a reminder for the front seat belts. The automatic variant also gets hill-start assist, ESP and traction control as standard, while the tops-spec trim adds four more airbags and an emergency assistance service.

The exterior and interior design cues are shared with Ford’s Figo-based cross-hatch, the Freestyle, from the grille on the nose to the 6.5-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Ford’s Sync 3.

Besides the styling tweaks and addition of features, the new Aspire’s powertrain options have also been revamped. The old 88hp, 1.2-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine has been replaced by the 96hp, 1.2-litre three-pot motor from the Freestyle, and claimed fuel economy for the petrol-manual combination has increased from 18.16kpl to 20.4kpl. The 100hp, 1.5-litre diesel engine has been tweaked to deliver improved fuel economy as well, new delivering 0.27kpl more at 26.1kpl.

For the automatic variant, the new Aspire borrows the EcoSport compact SUV’s 123hp, 1.5-litre petrol engine, which is mated to a 6-speed torque convertor unit that replaces the dual-clutch automatic previously available. While the new motor is 13hp and 14Nm more powerful than the outgoing one, fuel efficiency is 0.7kpl down in comparison, at 16.3kpl.

The refreshed Aspire directly rivals the new Honda Amaze (Rs 5.81-9.11 lakh), Maruti Suzuki’s Dzire (Rs 5.60-9.45 lakh), Volkswagen’s Ameo (Rs 5.65-9.99 lakh*) and the Hyundai Xcent (Rs 5.61-8.61 lakh). Based on its competition, Ford has priced the new Aspire quite competitively in the compact sedan segment.

All prices, ex-showroom, Delhi

*Prices are ex-showroom, pan India