Ford Figo petrol automatic launch soon

The Ford Figo is set to soon get an automatic gearbox option. As we had first reported last year, the Maruti Swift rival will get the option of a 6-speed torque converter automatic gearbox paired with the petrol engine.

• Figo 1.2 litre petrol to get an automatic gearbox for the first time
• Ford to also introduce updated EcoSport later this year

Ford Figo automatic: What’s to know

Unlike on previous iterations where the automatic gearbox came paired with a larger displacement petrol engine, this time around the unit – borrowed from the EcoSport - is paired with the existing 1.2-litre petrol engine.

The 1.2-litre unit currently delivers 96hp and 119Nm of torque and offers healthy performance at high engine speeds along with having a strong mid-range though low end responses are lacking. The new torque converter could help mask this weak bottom end making the car feel more responsive on the down low.

As a brief recap, the Figo was previously offered with automatic gearbox options since its launch in 2015. At the time of launch the petrol automatic Figo was powered by a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine delivering 110hp paired with a dual-clutch automatic gearbox. When the facelift arrived in 2019, this was replaced by a torque converter unit when Ford introduced the more powerful 1.5-litre Dragon petrol engine. This option though was dropped around the time of the hatchback being upgraded to meet BS6 norms.

The new petrol-automatic engine-gearbox combination could likely be offered on the mid-spec Titanium trim as with the facelifted BS4 hatchback though Ford could also offer the unit on the fully-loaded model. Expect the automatic gearbox variants to cost a fair premium over their manual counterparts.

Ford Figo automatic: Rivals

The new Figo automatic will go up against rivals such as the Maruti Swift and Hyundai Grand i10 Nios. Both the Maruti and Hyundai are powered by 1.2-litre petrol engines that come paired with 5-speed AMT gearboxes on select variants. Ford is also readying an updated EcoSport for the Indian marketwith the launch expected to take place later this year.