It was in 2015 that the Ford Aspire subcompact sedan was launched in India. Back then it had to deal with rivals like the Maruti Suzuki Dzire, Tata Zest and the Hyundai Xcent. The company is all set to launch the Aspire facelift in India on October 4 and there's a lot that's has changed on the car. But a lot has changed in the Indian market too and the Ford Aspire facelift comes at a time when demand for SUVs has surged especially in the subcompact segment. But the subcompact sedan segment too has been growing at a steady pace and with Hyundai, Maruti Suzuki, Honda and even Volkswagen updating their products; it's going to be interesting to see how the Aspire faces its contenders. The company has already started accepting bookings for the car across its dealerships in the country.
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There are extensive changes made to the looks of the car and this includes a new honeycomb pattern grille with chrome surrounds, restyled sweptback headlamps, and we wait to see if LED daytime running lamps are part of the package. The car also comes with wider central airdam and redesigned round foglamps. The car also gets a new set of nicer looking alloy wheels and slightly tweaked taillamps and rear bumper.
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The Ford Aspire facelift sees a redesigned front grille and round fog lamps
The cabin of the Aspire facelift still comes with the black and beige dual tone treatment and the dashboard design also seems unchanged to an extent. However, instead of the monochrome infotainment screen, now the Aspire comes with a dashtop touchscreen display, similar to the one we've seen on the Freestyle and the EcoSport.
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Courtesy of the new system, there are lesser buttons for in-car controls and the central air-con vents have now been repositioned. There is also an engine start-stop button positioned closer to the driver and we also see an automatic shifter lever, so it's likely that a 1.5-litre petrol engine is on the cards.
The Ford Aspire Facelift comes with a dashtop touchscreen display, similar to the one we've seen on the Freestyle and the EcoSport.
Under the hood, the 2018 Ford Aspire facelift is expected to get the new 1.2-litre, three-cylinder petrol engine, which does duty on the new Freestyle, along with the existing 1.5-litre, four-cylinder diesel engine. However, some of the dealers we spoke to earlier, told us that the CNG model will feature the older 1.2-litre petrol engine. Expect the more powerful 1.5-litre petrol to also be offered on the car but it's likely to come only with an automatic transmission.
Finally, the price! Currently, the Ford Aspire starts at Rs. 5.71 lakh for the base petrol variant and goes right up to Rs. 8.68 lakh for the top of the line petrol automatic. The diesel starts at Rs. 6.82 lakh and goes all the way up to Rs. 8.45 lakh (all prices ex-showroom Delhi). It's highly likely that the prices won't change much, given the fact that the Dzire, which is the big seller in the subcompact segment, starts at Rs. 5.56 lakh. We expect the price to either remain the same or hope Ford India plays the introductory prices card to help boost sales.
