Ford Aspire Bookings Open At Rs 11,000

Ford’s big launch this festive season will be their small sedan, the Aspire. The manufacturer has already announced an official launch on October 4. We will be driving the car on the following days, so do stay tuned to ZigWheels for a review by October 6.

Now though, Ford has announced that it’s officially accepting bookings for the compact sedan. The booking amount is Rs 11,000. If you book one now, you can expect to get delivery by the time the vehicle launches, or by the second week of October, based on the variant.

The Aspire will get a thorough makeover for 2018, with significant changes in and out. This will include a redesigned front grille and bumper, new 15-inch alloy wheels, and a reworked rear profile as well. Inside the cabin, the updated Aspire will borrow heavily from the Ford Freestyle. This will include the dash-mounted touchscreen with SYNC3, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, as well as an updated instrument cluster. Other features such as steering-mounted audio control, automatic climate control, leatherette upholstery will be carried over as is. Of course, Ford will offer a whole gamut of safety features, including traction control, ESC and six airbags.

Recommended Read: Ford Freestyle Petrol: Road Test Review

On the engines front, the new 1.2-litre Dragon series petrol is expected to make its debut on the Aspire. At 96PS and 120Nm it’s more powerful than the outgoing 1.2, and as we saw with the Freestyle, it can be quite fun to drive too. The 1.5-litre diesel is expected to be carried over as is too. What’s a bit of a grey area at the moment is the petrol-auto variant. It remains to be seen if Ford chooses to equip the 1.2 with an automatic transmission, or simply carry forward the old 1.5 DCT. We’d put our money on the 1.2 AT, considering Ford chose to discontinue the DCT in the EcoSport as well.

Prices are expected to remain identical to the current Aspire, that’s priced between Rs 5.72 lakh and Rs 8.69 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The updated version should give Ford a better hand against newer compact sedans such as the Maruti Suzuki Dzire and the Honda Amaze.