The Ford Endeavour has been making its presence felt on Indian roads for quite some time now, quite literally, thanks to its large proper American SUV style size, but thanks to tough competition from the Toyota Fortuner, Hyundai Santa Fe and Chevrolet Captiva, the Ford Endeavour being spotted on the roads has become quite the rare sight these days.
The Ford Endeavour lost it to competition because of its old-school design, and old school ride feel with loads of body roll and also due to its plain-jane interiors which lacked many features, but there is no reason to worry as Ford is here, with the next generation Endeavour which will be launched very soon.
The Ford Endeavour was spotted undergoing camouflaged testing on Indian roads, a couple of times and it has been testing across the country for a few months now, but now we have even more crisp news for our readers because, the Ford Endeavour has been spotted once again, but this time without any camouflage on it, and what makes this piece of news even better is that, it was spotted alongside the legendary Ford Mustang at ARAI.
We have spy shots of the Ford Endeavour and the Ford Mustang together, waiting at the ARAI facility in Pune, Maharashtra. ARAI (Automotive Research Association of India) is the top Automotive Engineering Research and Development unit in the country and it is the organization responsible for mileage certification and also emissions related certification, and if an automobile manufacturer intends to launch a new product in the Indian market, ARAI is the organization which can give the clearances required by the manufacturer to do so.
The Endeavour and Mustang being spotted together at ARAI is a sign that the launches of the Ford Mustang and the next-gen Ford Endeavour are very near indeed and we can expect an announcement from ford any moment now.
The next gen Ford Endeavour is expected to be assembled at the Ford Facility near Chennai, Tamil Nadu, from CKD (Completely Knocked Down) kits, imported from Thailand. The Next-Gen Endeavour will also be based on a body-on-frame, chassis construction, like the current Endeavour.
The front end of the next-gen Ford Endeavour is characterized by a trapezoidal grille with horizontal slats and the headlamps now contain projector units which were very much necessary for an SUV of this pedigree. The side profile reveals the new design alloy wheels and new side-steps as well. Attention at the rear is grabbed by the chrome strip running across the tailgate, between the tail-lamps and both, front and rear bumpers sport faux skid plates in a silver shade.
The interiors of the Ford Endeavour have been given a major overhaul as well on the next-gen Endeavour. The interior is expected to be more modern and will definitely feature a redesigned dashboard and steering wheel, and Ford will also incorporate their new Ford SYNC2 infotainment system. The interiors are expected to have more colour options as well.
Ford is expected to equip the next-gen Ford Endeavour with two engine options, which will definitely make for a more premium feel. Ford will give us a 4-cylinder 2.2-litre unit and a bigger 5-cylinder, 3.2-litre unit. Both the engines will be turbo-diesel units.
Ford will also give us an option to choose between a manual and an automatic transmission and even between a rear-wheel drive and Four-Wheel drive drive-train. The Four-wheel drive variant will be equipped with Ford’s Terrain Management System to tackle the toughest terrain. The Terrain Management system comes with four preset settings – normal, snow/gravel/grass, sand and rock.
To read more on Ford India, Click here
Also see: Ford Mustang spotted at ARAI in Pune, in the process for launch
Source: Gaadi
