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-   -   Rumour: Ford Endeavour is coming back in 2025 (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/275284-rumour-ford-endeavour-coming-back-2025-a-10.html)

Launching a CBU is basically signing off on their second attempt.

If the Everest costs around 40 lakhs, after taxes the on road price will be around 90 lakhs. They would hardly move 10 units a month with that kind of pricing.

If Ford wants to come back to India, their EVs are a good option if they take the PLI scheme for 15% import duties, or go hard on local manufacturing and bring back the Ecosport.

My dad still has his 2017 Diesel Ecosport and honestly he still doesn’t want to upgrade. Just soup up the looks and interiors and it’ll be unbeatable.

Wait Sir don't get so emotional as our current fortuner is the same chassis as the one from 2008 (selling from 2006in South Africa) so this gen Endeavour is actually relevant because the Toyota is 18 years old underneath whereas the Ford is barely 9 so the next generation Fortuner that might come 2025 or even '26 should compete with the Everest for 3 to 4 years.

In reality the next generation Fortuner will be not as groundbreaking as the Endeavour.

Actually the next gen Fortuner will be groundbreaking compared to 1st and 2nd gen, because it is going to take the leap to the TNGA-F platform, unlike the 2nd gen which had a carryover platform from the 1st gen like you mentioned.

The leap to the TNGA-F platform will push up the already high price and positioning. That is why Toyota had launched the Hilux Champ on the old IMV platform and working on the 500D project for an SUV below the Fortuner. Next gen Fortuner and Hilux are no doubt going upmarket, the reason why Innova Hycross shifted to the monocoque TNGA-C platform since it would be too expensive for the target market if it had also used the TNGA-F platform.

Totally agree on the Ecosport point.

However, the biggest roadblock in that decision, will be the EGO(s) of several Ford India and Global Top Management, who decided just 2.5 years back that their best option was to exit the Indian market and liquidate their assets.

Just imagine the Ego swallowing that is required by these Top Management executives, who will frankly look like fools, and rightly so, for having made the decisions that they did in 2021, and now in 2024, all this hype of Ford's return to India, just proves how badly they screwed up.

Further, Selling the Sanand unit in Gujarat, seems like a disaster move now, wherein they could have scaled back into operations in no time.

However, what's done is done.

If Ford comes back only with the Endeavour, Ranger and Mustang, as reported, my gut feeling is they will fail miserably.

They need to cater to the highly growing 10-20L market segment, which will give them 5000-10000 cars per month potentially.

A Ecosport (10-15L range) and a mid-size SUV (XUV700 rival) is the need of the hour.

But I don't think Ford is listening, never did, to what its customer base is saying.

Ford Endeavour’s usp was its price when it was sold in India back then against Fortuner along with features and performance.

I fear when Ford will sell the CBU, it will be well above the price point all are expecting.

And then there will be another factor when Ford have to do the price juggling after the local manufacturing starts cause they have to give the price advantage of local manufacturing to customer and not getting greedy.

Want to see how Ford handles and offers the pricing competitive enough to grab the market share with only one strong player currently going strong.

I really feel Ford should not lose this opportunity and offer all sets of their SUV line up gradually here and challenge M&M along with Toyota down the line.

Cheers

Regardless, won't the initial buyers have a slight discomfort in the pricing I.e. when compared with fully import vehicle VS the locally assembled one? Will Ford lobby on deleting features or compensate the initial buyers one way or the other when they start assembling the Everest locally?

I am just waiting to see how Toyota will respond to up their game :) monopoly is about to end, perhaps? Or bring the updated Fortuner onto our shores?

Ford has already closed its Sales operations in India in FY 2021 now again coming back in Indian Market within a very short span of Time indicates lack of any clear Roadmap for the Indian Market.

Ford Sales Outlets are now converted to some other Car showrooms. It would be hard for them to convince someone to invest on their new dealerships when they have miserably failed in India and had to close their Indian operations.

How many customers will have interest in buying Ford Cars when they realise that frequent opening and closing India operations have become a normal affair for Ford in the Indian market ?

Here's how it might look on a yearly timeline :cool:

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Year1:

• Ford will launch this Everest at a price similar to Fortuner, probably constrained by 2500 limit imposed by Govt.
• Everest will find some success due to novelty factor and many Ford fans are waiting for this.

||
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Year2:

• Toyota will launch Fortuner diesel with mild hyrbid and feature upgrades at insane prices.
• Next lot of Everest will be imported and it'll now look VFM and might taste some success.

||
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Year3:

• Toyota may launch Fortuner strong hyrbid with lesser upgrades at insane prices.
• Next lot of Everest will be imported and it'll again be VFM and continues to sell.

||
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Year4:

• Ford might have a EV portfolio plan ready and could launch their first EV product and Everest continues to sell as a premium product via CBU route.
• Toyota will expand its Hybrid portfolio even further with Maruti Suzuki rebranded series hybrid in small car segment and a pure EV launch in the same collaboration. Fortuner sales unaffected!!

@Mods, used the symbols to make the post more illustrative, please modify if not as per forum guidelines.

PS : Tata and Mahindra will launch their flagship EVs at a VFM price inching towards capturing the market share of the biggies :D

I am not too optimistic about the launch of the Everest/Endeavor.

The old Endeavor was already better than the Fortuner. It had better features, better materials used, better on-road dynamics, better off-road tech, bigger size, was sufficiently reliable, and was just a more refined vehicle. It still couldn't manage to sell more than the Fortuner. I think it is impossible to ever figure how Fortuner sells 3000+ units a month just for the reliability and the torquey diesel engine. It just somehow sells itself. It doesn't have enough features for the price, the interiors look terribly dated, the ride is a bit bouncy, the steering isn't ideal, and the materials used are okayish. The car shouldn't have sold that much more than the old Endeavor, but it did, and no one can reason with this consumer behavior. The numbers speak for themselves. Maybe the whole idea of being all-powerful and dominating is the only thing that is needed to sell the Fortuner? Who knows. I have never figured it out. Even after driving one.

Hence, I think there is very little chance that the Everest/Endeavor will manage to sell in enough numbers to make a dent in Fortuner's sales. Also, the CBU has a high chance of being so expensive that you almost never see one on the road; the Jeep Grand Cherokee (Great product, too expensive without a luxury badge) is suffering already. Not to mention how by the time they get the prices in order with locally assembled units, the Fortuner will get updated and the typical Indian consumer will help it sweep the floor with the Endeavor. Regardless, it's good to see Ford trying to come back. Maybe we might have some decent offerings at sensible prices in 2027.

My only question is this: if you have a brand that has not only has name brand recognition but positive name brand recognition, doesn't it behove you as an OEM to stick with it compared to trying to pitch a new moniker? As it is Ford will be rowing against the tide in terms of how they up and left sticks so surely the last thing they need is giving themselves an extra hill to climb, or mountain in case of the Everest..

Will say this though, given the daylight robbery prices of the agricultural Fortuner, Ford could likely move decent numbers even with import duties on it. There's clearly no dearth of demand for this big land barges.

It all depends on the re-entry price point, doesn’t it?

If it’s within 15% radius of Fortuner price point, it’s going to sell like hot cakes, if it’s within the territory of Grand Cherokee, it’s DoA.

This segment regards Fortuner as the key point on the price axis (although this key point has been aggressively shifting to the right).

But the uber point is to not over-index on the metric of how much Ford dents Toyota!

(imho; the forum has moved in that direction bit too much)

Instead, the fact is we love Ford and it has a unique presence and individuality in this segment.

We should index on how much this makes a potential customer happy to even have a strong contender to all-hail-king Fortuner.

Competition always pushes all contenders to bring their best and we should (hopefully) see new Fortuner models, and other Toyota SUVs.

Win-win.

Slightly OT:- There is confirmation that they are looking at these segments as well.


https://www.carscoops.com/2024/03/20...ium-successor/

The almost ready then shelved EcoSport v2 is what Ford should update and launch, if they are thinking of being in India seriously. The Everest / Endeavour would be a neither here nor there product with CBU or CKD pricing.

Or they could just use the TN plant for export only.

Personally I'd like to see them give it another attempt, we deserve a true blue American manufacturer in the market.

Why don't we give credit to Toyota and its market research team for the success of it's products and for understanding it's clientele base and giving exactly what it wants. Why is that the purchase of every Toyota product a foolish herd mentality decision where as the purchase of some other brand a smart decision.

My aunt has a 10 year old Fortuner and it runs just like new. I own a Crysta and there are very few which can beat it's comfort. We do 2k kms trips easily in it and another 3k kms trip is coming up in 2 days. There is zero planning required from vehicle side, just fill it and go. Unbeatable Reliability, comfort and ride quality.

I feel this new endeavour will be priced around 70 lakhs which will be DOA. Lets assume they price it at 40 Lakhs but where are the showrooms and service centres. How many will be comfortable buying a brand which leaves the country and then comes back? What if it leaves again?

The old Endy beats Fortuner is features and technology and ride but the over all quality of the fortuner is definitely better than the Endy in my view and also the middle row seat is better in the Fortuner.

So, just by launching Endeavour and Mustang or some EV's might not change anything for ford. They need to come back like a serious car brand and launch all it's old cars and most importantly the Ecosport.

Endeavour launched in India in 2003. Fortuner launched in 2009. Fortuner devoured endeavour market share which why they had to exist (I know Ford had other models, but endeavour is their most famed vehicle) the Indian market. How relaunching the same model face lifted again will have different dynamics. Not to mention the price will be at least 60 lakhs. If it's a CBU then forget about it.

If a normal work horse suv like endeavour is priced at 60 lakhs, it will be underwhelming no matter what. Which is exactly where fortuner gets a bad rap. Apart from gloating for having some giant screen on a dash and a sunroof, I seriously fail to understand where endeavour/Everest can Trump fortuner. The only way it can beat fortuner is if gets launched around 35-40 lakhs, which is highly unlikely.