Ford hit the right note with the EcoSport in the Indian markets, cracking open the compact SUV segment in the peninsula. But the car couldn’t really compete for aesthetics against its rivals in the US. Perhaps that’s why the facelift of the car was recently unveiled and its India-made version is all set to be exported to The States, where sales are slated to commence by 2018.


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This also makes the EcoSport the first vehicle to be imported by the US from India. Prior to this announcement, the company was under fire from President-elect Donald Trump for moving the manufacturing of all its smaller cars to Mexico.  Though the move has not affected any jobs for American workers, Trump has vowed to impose a 35 percent tax on cars that are built in Mexico for the US market, which, he says, will force automakers to bring jobs back to US plants.


Thus, Ford has now resorted to India to at least take care of the EcoSport supplies in the American market. But exports are nothing new for the India-made EcoSport that is rolled out of the company’s Chennai plant. The facility caters to more than 100 markets across the globe. Notably, around 15 percent of the total production is consumed domestically.


Talking about the car, its forthcoming iteration broke cover earlier this week, ahead of the Los Angeles Motor Show. In India, the car has been a shadow of itself ever since the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza was launched in the summer of 2016. An update was long due and with the US launch slated for 2018, it would be safe to say that the new EcoSport will make its way onto the subcontinent sometime before that. 


Source: CarDekho.com