Ford's India bound SUV takes shape

Ford India will be adding two more SUVs to its line-up in the country, built in collaboration with Mahindra. The company is currently finalising design and other elements for its upcoming SUVs. We tell you more about it.

• Upcoming Ford SUVs for India will have a fresh design language
• First new SUV from Ford expected to come sometime next year
• A second new SUV will join the line-up a little later.

Future Ford SUV spotted in India: what does the picture reveal?

A few days ago, a yet-to-be seen Ford SUV was spied in New Delhi, being off-loaded at a cargo terminal. A single image of this mystery SUV has surfaced online, which clearly shows the fresh new look and design of this future Ford SUV. What can easily be confirmed is that Ford is moving to its latest design language, recently seen on some of its global products like the for-China-only Ford Equator.

Taking centre stage is the oversized, wide and frameless grille that’s finished in black. While the grille looks solid for the most part, it has a chequered design, with horizontal chrome slashes used to brighten up the nose. The headlight unit is covered, but visible towards the edges are three horizontal daytime running lamps.

What gets your attention right away, however, is the clean and very sophisticated look of the ‘X’ shaped bumper. Note, the real air intake sits under the bumper. And then the cool-looking vertically aligned fog light clusters, with their ‘peeled-back’ shrouds, also get your attention. 

The SUV also gets a wide chin finished in contrast black, similar to the Ford Equator, and a brushed-aluminium finished faux skid plate at the bottom.

Future Ford SUV spotted in India: what actually is it?

Let’s start with what we know; the vehicle spotted is unique and not a Ford on sale anywhere else globally. We also know that it was bound for a design clinic in Delhi (when the picture was taken), where feedback on the design is sought. We can also confirm that there are currently three new Ford SUVs on the cards for India.

The first one off the blocks will be Ford’s C-SUV, which will designed by Mahindra-owned legendary Italian design house Pininfarina. This new SUV will be based on Mahindra’s all-new XUV500. Ford’s version will share the chassis, suspension system and engines, but these will be comprehensively re-tuned to meet Ford’s requirements. Like the Kia Seltos and Hyundai Creta, each will also have their own individual identity.  While it’s not clear if windscreens, windows and doors will be different at this stage, what we are sure of is that the pair will look almost nothing like each other, with the SUV with a blue oval on the nose having a clear Ford identity. This pair will use a 185hp version of Mahindra’s 2.2 diesel and a 190hp version of Mahindra’s 2.0 petrol; both of which made their debut on the new Mahindra Thar.

Alternatively, this mystery SUV could also be Ford’s future B-SUV, again jointly being developed with Mahindra. This new SUV, codenamed the B745 (S204 for Mahindra), will be a 4.3m-long Creta fighter powered by Mahindra's G15 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine and the diesel on offer is also likely to be a derivative of the 1.5-litre four-cylinder seen on the Mahindra Marazzo MPV. Since this SUV isn’t likely to see the light of day until 2022, this is a long shot.

Also on the cards is a major facelift expected on Ford’s compact SUV, the EcoSport; and this, dimensions and proportions willing, could alternatively be what we are looking at. The new EcoSport, expected towards the middle of 2021 will get Mahindra's 1.2-litre turbo-petrol engine in place of Ford’s 1.0-litre EcoBoost.

One thing’s for sure, Ford’s new SUVs will look nothing like the Mahindra SUVs they will share a majority of components with. And Ford insiders claim they will drive very differently too.