Force Motors mulls a new SUV to challenge the Toyota Fortuner

Force Motors recently launched new variants of the Force One SUV, a product that's clearly not selling as well as its maker would have envisaged it to. While the new variants could do their bit to boost sales of the Force One SUV, Force Motors has begun drawing up plans for a premium SUV for the Indian car market. The premium SUV that is in the concept stage could be ready for production in the next couple of years.

Note: The Force One SUV image used in this report is illustrative in nature. 

Names such as the Toyota Fortuner and the Ford Endeavour luxury SUVs are being bandied about as the possible rivals for Force Motors's new premium SUV. A price tag in the whereabouts of 18 lakh rupees is likely for the new Force Motors SUV. The premium SUV that's being developed by Force Motors is a part of the 1,000 Crore rupees investment that the automaker is making towards the development of new products.

Force Motors is yet to launch an indigenously developed passenger car. Most of its SUV, passenger carrier and MPV designs have been sourced from other automakers such as Daimler and more recently, the Guangdong Foday group of China. Notably, the Force One SUV is a rebadged and re-engineered Guangdong Foday Explorer III, which in turn is based on the Ford Explorer.

In this light, it remains to be seen whether the new premium SUV from Force Motors is a clean sheet design or whether it is a rebadged version of an existing product. Currently, Force Motors has two products in the passenger car space: the Force One SUV and the Gurkha off-roader. Both products are sold through Force Motors's recently established passenger car dealerships.

In India, Force Motors is more known for its range of commercial vehicles than its passenger car range. The launch of passenger car specific dealerships was a move aimed at changing the automaker's image, from that of a commercial vehicle builder to that of a passenger car maker. Early next year, Force Motors is expected to launch a luxury MPV, said to be based on the Mercedes Benz Vito.

Indian automaker Force Motors assembles engines for Mercedes Benz and has had a long standing relationship with the Daimler group, right from the days when it used to sell Tempo Matador vans (Tempo is now owned by the Daimler group). Force Motors now sells the Traveller range of mini vans, a design based on the Mercedes Benz T1 Transporter van.

Source TheTimesOfIndia