Ford Freestyle Launched, Undercuts Competition By More Than Rs 1 Lakh

New Delhi: Ford has launched a new CUV (Compact Utility Vehicle), ‘Freestyle’, at a starting price of Rs 5.09 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) for the base petrol variant. The diesel starts at Rs 6.09 lakh and goes up to Rs 7.89 lakh for the top end. The petrol top end is priced at Rs 6.94 lakh.

As evident from the design, Freestyle is based on the Figo and will compete against other cross-hatchbacks such as the Hyundai i20 Active, Volkswagen Polo Cross and Toyota Etios Cross.

Interestingly, Freestyle’s price is the lowest amongst the competition and it is cheaper than the Etios Cross by nearly Rs 1.4 lakh and Rs 1.6 lakh compared with Hyundai i20 Active.

The petrol gets an all-new 1.2-litre Dragon series 3 cylinder engine that produces 95 bhp power and 120 Nm of torque. The ARAI-rated fuel efficiency for the petrol is 19 kmpl.

The diesel engine is the same as that available on Figo, Aspire and Ecosport. The 1.5-litre, 4-cylinder diesel unit produces 99 BHP power and 215 Nm torque. Fuel efficiency is 24.4 kmpl as per ARAI.

Both engines are mated to a five-speed manual transmission. There is no automatic gearbox available as of now.

The Ford Freestyle is available in four variants, the Ambiente, Trend, Titanium and Titanium+. Top variants get hill assist, traction control, rear view camera, climate control, push-button start, six speakers, 6.5 inch Touchscreen with Ford SYNC3 that supports Apple Carplay and Android Auto. In terms of safety, dual airbags, ABS, traction control are standard on every variant while top variants get additional curtain airbags as well. Being a crossover, the ground clearance is 190 mm. The wheels are 4-spoke 15 inchers.

At a length of 3954 mm and width of 1737 mm, it is slightly bigger than the Figo but smaller than the Ecosport.

It is available in six colours – absolute black, canyon ridge, moondust silver, oxford white, smoke grey and white gold.