US car major Ford India on Thursday launched a cross version of its Figo small car, Freestyle at Rs. 5.09-6.94 lakh for petrol and Rs. 6.09-7.89 lakh for diesel variants.
The Freestyle gets a new 1.2 litre petrol engine and a new 5 speed manual gearbox. It does not get an automatic transmission as yet. Though it is based on the Figo platform, it is actually Rs. 42,000 cheaper than the base variant of the small car.
As a cross version, the car gets higher ground clearance and better driving dynamics. Other manufacturers like Hyundai with the Elite i20 active, Volkswagen with the Cross Polo and Toyota with Etios Cross have also tried their hand at this by jazzing up their existing small cars but the success has been limited at best. Ford, however, believes they have done far more research on the freestyle for it to become an outlier.
"There are some design cues that the customer looks at in terms of styling, which we have given but the freestyle goes beyond that. It has 190 mm ground clearance compared to 170 mm for small cars so it really can go anywhere," said Anurag Mehrotra, managing director, Ford India. "The utility vehicle segment is the fastest growing in the country and we wanted one in the Rs. 5-7 lakh range. This is where the freestyle comes in."
The new petrol engine generates 96 PS power and 120 NM torque, one of the highest in the class. The diesel engine makes 100 PS peak power and 215 Nm of torque. This new manual transmission is almost 15 per cent lighter and helps improve fuel economy while reducing NVH. It requires 40 per cent lesser gear oil than its predecessor too.
Adding to the list of all-new features and technologies, Ford has introduced innovative and intelligent technology, Active Rollover Prevention (ARP) with the Freestyle.
The system works with Electronic Stability Control and applies brakes on relevant wheels to decrease engine torque and help prevent any potential rollover situations. It comes with dual airbags as standard while the top end variant gets six airbags.
Freestyle, with its best in class ground clearance of 190MM, can conquer challenging surfaces with greater ease and feature 15-inch tyres with increased track-width and aggressive black alloys to give a SUV stance.
The car is produced at Ford India's Sanand factory in Gujarat, for consumers in India and all around the world, including Europe and Africa.