Ford's EcoSport received a mild refresh along with a more powerful diesel engine in India earlier this year. Now, test mules of the car have been spotted in South America, implying that an update (for the car on sale internationally) could be expected sometime soon. Ford will unveil the updated EcoSport on Monday, November 14, 2016. This will mark the EcoSport's North America entry as well. The carmaker will bring the refreshed car to India in the second half of 2017.
The 2017 EcoSport is expected to receive reprofiled headlamps and tail-lamps, a hexagonal grille, reprofiled bumpers along with new-design alloy wheels. On the inside it will get a new steering wheel, a revised centre console and a new colour display for the Sync infotainment system. The dashboard, however, isn't very different from that of the car currently on sale in India.
Even in China, new images of a test mule surfaced but these show a completely different dashboard. While the instrument cluster and steering look similar to the test mule spotted in Brazil, the rest of the dashboard is completely new. The new, dual-tone unit gets an all-new centre console layout with a high-set small infotainment display and controls under which sit new rectangular air-con vents. Overall, the centre console is less cluttered and button heavy.
The Ford EcoSport has been on sale in the Indian market since 2013 and now faces competition from the likes of the Mahindra TUV300 and the recently launched Maruti Vitara Brezza.
The tailgate-mounted spare wheel is a popular feature in India, and is likely to stay on Asia-bound models of the car. So, while this update may come as great news to potential EcoSport customers internationally, it's uncertain when, or if Ford will bring the updated car to India.