Ford India has started its marketing operations for the launch of the Ford Figo sedan. Ford has named it as the Figo aspire and has started its pre-launch promotional activities a few weeks ago by launching an advertisement along with a competition in which the winner would get INR 1 lakh or a Figo Aspire itself. Ford India has garnered enough interest for the Figo sedan from Indian consumers, and now it is time for Ford to do the same in South Africa.
Ford has unveiled the new Figo hatchback and the Figo sedan for the South African market and has made its intentions of launching it there in the last quarter of this year known. This is big news for us in India because, the launch of the South African models of the Figo and Figo sedan would mark the beginning of export operations of Ford India. Yes, you read right, Ford India will be producing the Figo and Figo sedan and it will be shipped to South Africa for delivery.
Ford India will be using its new, recently inaugurated plant at Sanand, in Gujarat to produce the Figo and Figo sedan and will be shipped directly from the Mundra port which is the closest export hub to the Ford Plant and is also India’s largest port. The Figo in Africa will be offered in two variants – a 5-door hatchback and a 4-door sedan. Make no mistake though, the 4-door Figo sedan for South Africa is longer than the 4-door sedan made for the Indian market, as the Figo Sedan in India has been designed to measure under 4-metres in order to get the subsidy in road tax for compact cars, so we can give up hopes of receiving the longer Figo sedan in India.
The drivetrain details of the Figo siblings for the South African market are unknown as of now, but we are sure that there will be a petrol and a diesel engine, along with options to choose from a manual gearbox or an automatic one. The Indian Figo siblings though, will be powered by a 1.2 liter petrol engine or a 1.5 liter diesel engine, mated to a 6-speed dual clutch transmission.
The Indian Figo siblings and the South African Figo Siblings share a lot in the styling department. Well, they literally are the same as there are no changes at all in terms of aesthetics. The interiors though will have a few differences in terms of features.
The Figo siblings for South Africa will be getting a device docking station for iPod or an MP3 player, Bluetooth for music streaming, voice control for car functions and calling functions, a programmable MyKey function and automatic climate control. Safety has been given a lot of importance here, and ABS will come as standard across all models and even dual front airbags will be standardized across all models. Top end variants may offer more airbags, ESP and Hill Launch Assist (automatic gearbox only).
Ford India will start producing the Figo twins for the South African market at the Sanand plant within the next two months, but deliveries will commence in South Africa only by the end of this year.
To read more on Ford Figo, Click here
Also see: Ford India starts promotional activities of Figo Aspire
