Team-BHP - Ford EcoSport : Official Review

It really seems ford is on a self planned path of assured self business catastrophe.
First they launch such an long awaited vehicle which was almost assured of a marketing success (Though not expected as big as it finally turned out to be) just before the Festive season and due to giving a free rein to the dealers the out of turn delivery. All the hotch potch. That we all know now resulting in insane waiting periods. And finally ford itself asking dealers to stop taking booking.
In mid of all this drama when customers here were facing waiting periods of 7 to 10 months they started with export to call for further customer wrath.

Buying a car is just not buying a box with 4 wheels and an engine. It is more like a relation and faith between the company. Dealer n the customer and Ford has screwed it up nicely in my view.
Now with launch of Terrano people have another choice. I am sure in today's scenario no one is going to wait for 10 months to buy vehicle. Ford is going to loose big time both in terms of sale as well as customer faith.

Note from Moderator: Please avoid typing with excessive dots....like....this.

I am myself waiting for the delivery of my Diesel Titanium (O), but i think we are going a bit over the top in bashing Ford for the long waiting times. I know that Mr. Joginder Singh had said at the time of launch that Ford is ready to meet any requirement for the Ecosport, but hey, he is the MD, what else do you expect him to say? That you'll have to wait for X months if the booking crosses X units? lol:

Every manufacturer has such days of glory in the market. Many cars such as the swift have commanded a waiting period of 6 months or more in the market.

An important point I want to make is that the premium hatchback segment wasn't a new one (hence plenty of options) and still, swift had such waiting periods, whereas the compact SUV is a new segment with just the Duster and Ecosport in it as of now. So, one can assume that for the next 1-1.5 years, every new launch in this segment will see such high demands after launch. Duster had it, Ecosport is enjoying it and I am dead sure that the XA Aplha and Hyundai Mini SUV, which are next in the line, will see similar reactions in the market.

As far as pulling strings to get the car early is concerned, it's at the dealer's end and sadly, nothing can be done about it. To be honest, I don't think that the dealers too are completely responsible for this, as our system is such that many of the people with "connections" do all they can to get their car early.

This one time I was at Harpreet Ford, Prashant Vihar, Delhi and a middle aged man just came in and asked for immediate delivery and offered full payment in cash. When the SA told him that the waiting was 6 months, the man promptly said: "Upar se Phone karana padega Matlab", and who knows, maybe he did that and got the delivery.

We live in a country where everything can be done if you have influential connections, it's all interconnected. So, this isn't an isolated thing and hence, shouldn't be treated as one.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers!

Quote:

Originally Posted by penpavan (Post 3217596)

Guys have you noticed that EcoSport does not have a door lock from inside at all? (The official review already points it out)
There is no way you can get the door-open-lever locked. You can pull it anytime and the door opens!

I think this is a security hazard.

Quote:

Originally Posted by niks_devil666 (Post 3217605)

The lock is in central console.

I think what he intended was even when central locking is activated the doors can be opened from inside unless child lock is on. And the front doors don't have the child lock. Its the norm nowadays in european vehicles. Its supposed to be a safety feature preventing jamming of door locks in case of an accident.

Quote:

Originally Posted by drpudhi (Post 3217662)

Yes that's what I meant.
In my opinion, it kind of works both ways. Good and bad.
For me it is bad because, in order to prevent children opening the door, you are adding that overhead effort of someone getting out and opening the rear door from outside. Some might argue thats a fair compromise in favor of safety but a manual lock knob wouldn't have harmed.

Good news for all those who are waiting for their deliveries. Got a call from ford stating my car will be delivered before the second week of September. The SA forwarded my dad the quotation so that the bank could ready up the finance on time. Had booked the trend diesel on 25th July, and at the time of booking they said it could take a minimum of three months. The SA also said ford is speeding up all the deliveries and we would get our cars well in advance. So guys be prepared for an early delivery clap:

This just popped into my head when I was thinking about the delivery and waiting time of my car.

Since the waiting period and number of bookings for the Ecosport has shot up through the roof, is it possible that the guys in Ford India's factory making/assembling the Ecosport would cut corners and pay a little less attention to detail in order to get things done quickly?
I mean simple but important quality checks like just checking if everything is screwed properly just like the engineers intended.

All I'm saying is, overlooking such things now, may lead to problems eventually. Take the XUV 5OO for example. The Ecosport too, like the XUV is a complicated piece of kit after all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by accelerate89 (Post 3217864)

What dealership did you book with and what was the priority number.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeKay (Post 3217898)

Since the waiting period and number of bookings for the Ecosport has shot up through the roof, is it possible that the guys in Ford India's factory making/assembling the Ecosport would cut corners and pay a little less attention to detail in order to get things done quickly?
I mean simple but important quality checks like just checking if everything is screwed properly just like the engineers intended.

A responsible manufacturer will not cut corners when it comes to engineering aspects and quality checks. And Ford have already been very transparent by doing a recall in just a few days after the launch.

Sometimes we tend to overwork our imaginations :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by wysiwyg25 (Post 3217954)

What dealership did you book with and what was the priority number.

I booked with Kairali Ford(Thrissur/Kerala). Not sure about the priority number, but the time quoted for the delivery was a minimum of 3 months. If its delivered before the second week of September it will hardly be 2 months. Ford is working pretty hard to clear off its backlog it seems.