[sudeepg]

Originally Posted by abaliga

... but I have my doubts on the Ford come back, re establishing sales touch points and winning customer confidence is an up hill task and more than that, a car company doesn't exit a country for a short term, most decisions would be taken with some foresight and not hastened, This patenting of cars is not making any sense to me.

Originally Posted by rnaduthota

You are very right, it is exactly same. looks like Ford is patanting the design so that Mahindra or any other manufacturer cannot use this.

I do not think Ford will comeback to india in near future.

Fully agree with both of these points. Ford made significant investments back then and also a good attempt at keeping service costs low, but a comeback is difficult considering the way they exited the market (after making a billion-dollar investment announcement). Also, the competition with the Koreans is not going to be easy.

[longhorn]

Originally Posted by volkman10

In a surprising turn of events, Ford India has recently filed a new design patent, generating a buzz in the automotive community.
Attachment 2576577

This is the Ford Territory, which is essentially a Chinese car (Geely) dressed up as a Ford. I don't see any reason to get excited if this is what they are planning to bring to India.

[Itachi_Uchiha]

Originally Posted by noblebeam

This patent resembles a car leaked some years back, this was when the Ford-Mahindra JV broke, this car could be a Creta rival

This looks exactly the same as the patented design shown above, even look at the design on the fog lamp area and the lower bumper. Ford has been very quite and isn't letting out a word. I hope they make a comeback in India.

[ampere]

I still strongly feel Ford can play very effectively into the 30-50L SUV market by bringing in good strong products and evolving into diesel-hybrid strategy.

I know India always demands bigger and better products at that price range. But I still feel this would be a great puzzle to crack. In this range the only product which sells like a king is the Innova Hycross. The rest include the Compass, Tuscon, Tiguan, Meridian etc. I still think Ford can make a strong dent into this segment as it evolves.

[TaurusSHO]

And then there's another fresh report of a JV with TML.
So much going around!

Ford likely to drive back to India with EV focus

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by ampere

I still strongly feel Ford can play very effectively into the 30-50L SUV market by bringing in good strong products and evolving into diesel-hybrid strategy.

I know India always demands bigger and better products at that price range. But I still feel this would be a great puzzle to crack. In this range the only product which sells like a king is the Innova Hycross. The rest include the Compass, Tuscon, Tiguan, Meridian etc. I still think Ford can make a strong dent into this segment as it evolves.

Spot on about the positioning, an old Autocar Article.

Autocar Link

Will India give yet another chance to Ford? I doubt.

[SeniorC]

Ford Endeavour and Ford Ecosport have a good brand recall amongst Indians. I do hope they bring back these cars to India. The patented image looks like a cross between Ford Focus and XUV300. Solid reliability and good drivability of their cars should get them their customers.

[mrstealthy007]

Originally Posted by longhorn

This is the Ford Territory, which is essentially a Chinese car (Geely) dressed up as a Ford. I don't see any reason to get excited if this is what they are planning to bring to India.

I don't think so, there is really no resemblance, I don't understand why one would think so. The only similarity is that they are both crossovers. The territory is also in a different segment altogether, competing with the Tucson. Most people say this one is sub 4m, competing with the Venue.

Picture for reference:

[DivyanshuDiv]

Originally Posted by noblebeam

This patent resembles a car leaked some years back, this was when the Ford-Mahindra JV broke, this car could be a Creta rival

This was XUV700's counterpart and was named as CX757.
This prototype was designed and was available all over the internet. But the new design patent seems to have a ADAS radar, and was not visible in the orginal design/renders, and also looks like a subcompact. It could be for some other markets, may be, or they are creating a buzz for their re-entry for electrics and everests/endeavors.

[sSTIFFLERr]

Well the only thing was missing from ford lineup was ecosport with AWD, little more space like say tata nexon, a diesel automatic. Don't know why they did not make this updates. Afterall they created crossover segment right?. For me personally no other car comes close to ecosport and it was really painful to see the brand go. Since 2003 I have always had at least one ford car in my garage. My Figo diesel 2014 has done 90k and still going strong. My next upgrade was only and only ecosport but that would remain a dream .

[TheManualGear]

This is actually the same car they developed for Indian market during the JV with Mahindra and there is no reason they will let their money waste. Besides if they launch in India who would not want a land cruiser sized Everest in price of fortuner.

[Love4Cars]

Originally Posted by sSTIFFLERr

My next upgrade was only and only ecosport but that would remain a dream .

You can still go pre-owned route to get one from 2021 with low mileage. There are still few Ecosport models on resale if you are not bound by looking for a car in your own state.

[loki]

Did they Patent it in India, just so that Mahindra doesn't produce a blatant rip-off version ? (Cough Thar cough )

[amit_2025]

Originally Posted by longhorn

This is the Ford Territory, which is essentially a Chinese car (Geely) dressed up as a Ford. I don't see any reason to get excited if this is what they are planning to bring to India.

Originally Posted by mrstealthy007

I don't think so, there is really no resemblance, I don't understand why one would think so. The only similarity is that they are both crossovers. The territory is also in a different segment altogether, competing with the Tucson. Most people say this one is sub 4m, competing with the Venue.

Picture for reference:
Attachment 2576889

The closest resemblance of this image to an existing Ford model is the Ford Territory latest gen which on sale in other markets

Our Family owns one in the Philippines and we drove it extensively while we were there last year

Of course anything before the actual images start coming out will be pure speculation, but if Ford does come back then the likelihood of them picking the hottest segments i.e. the compact SUV and crossover segments would be the highest

[VijayAnand1]

Ford sincerely deserves all the love and warmth, once they're back in India. Ford-ians will go teary eyed if it actually comes to a fruition. They've sincerely given us some of the best handling cars, super hot hatches and an SUV that still means business in India. This seems to be the same cross-over if the spy shots were to be corroborated with the Mahindra JV.

Note to Ford, your Ecosport and Figo series did the job very well for you. ADAS, creature comforts and bringing in carefully iterated variants and pricing it sensibly would mean you can have very good numbers over and above the junk-pile of pseudo crossovers flooding the Indian market. With a slow decline observed in the performance hatchback segement, the Indian market is upgrading itself to the C-SUV and P-SUV where Ford can play really well.

With the Blue Oval hype apexing at a never before level here in India post Ford's exit, it's only time Ford sincerely uses this as a stepping stone and gets the game going. Win or not, would personally be happy to see Ford back in India.

C'mon Ford you can do it, not everyone gets a second chance. Rock it, because you thoroughly deserve a second inning!

Cheers!
VJ