Those who wish to ride in demand, Ford EcoSport must be dejected by the recent developments in the auto sector with Ford India deciding to disrupt the supply chain temporarily. This temporary halt in booking, as described by the company, has been triggered due to heavy unsustainable demands of customers. The company further clarified only the booking of selected few variants of this compact Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) has been stopped and some diesel variants will still be available to customers. This announcement comes as a bit of relaxation for new buyers, but nonetheless, will prove to be detrimental if stopped booking lasts for a prolonged period of time. This is evident as potential buyers may shift towards a different brand altogether due to non-availability of selected variants of EcoSport.
Reacting to the situation, the spokesperson quoted without specifying details, “We are witnessing an extended waiting period on certain variants and have temporarily stopped taking bookings on a few variants.”
The grievous situation has not cropped in a day or two, but shaped over a time period. Needless to say, Ford EcoSport is one of the best selling models of the company as of now. Due to this amazing response, buyers have turned up in huge numbers to book themselves a ride in this SUV. Over a period of time, the demand exceeded considerably and eventual outnumbered the supply. This led to increased waiting period of SUV's delivery. One can get a fair idea from the fact that in some cases waiting period was as many as 240 days. This is indeed alarming and has eventually forced the Ford dealerships to stop accepting bookings of few variants of the compact SUV.
Interestingly, the availability of variants differ from dealer to dealer. In Delhi, the booking of all the petrol versions has been stopped temporarily. The variants that have been discontinued are Ambiente, Trend and the top spec Titanium variant with the 1.5 litre petrol engine along with 1-litre EcoBoost with the Option Pack. The shocking news is that 1.5 Titanium automatic variant is also not available for booking. Thus, for now, the best option for buyers is to go for the diesel variant. But things certainly are not tidy here too barring booking slot. Most showrooms seem to have only the Titanium and Titanium Option Pack variants with a waiting period of approximately 10-12 months. There are few dealers who have Ambiente and Trendline, but alas, the waiting time here too is quite high and vary from 5-8 months.
Ford India launched EcoSport on 26th of June and got a whopping 30,000 bookings within just 17 days of its launch. As per the figures issued by SIAM, 8,717 units of EcoSport were sold till July 2013. The month of July also witnessed recall of 972 units of the diesel variants of compact SUV for rectifying a part fitted in the engine starting system; however it did not affected the demand of model.
For all those who planned to book EcoSport, the vehicle has faired quite well being a compact SUV. The 200 mm ground clearance and 550 mm water wading of the vehicle can tread tough pathways and overcome any hindrance easily. For uphill and downhill pathways, the SUV features a hill launch assist to smoothly accelerate away. Both, exteriors and interiors are impressive and will make any trip worth driving. The vehicle combines the traction control and ESP (Electronic Stability Program) for excellent control. There are airbags to mitigate the risk of serious injury during a collision. ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) and EBD (Electronic Brake Force Distribution) braking system further safeguard the safety of drive and passengers of the car.
