IAB Exclusive - Ford B, C, CD Platforms heading to India

Talking to Indian Autos Blog at the new Fiesta unveiling in Delhi, top Ford India officials fielded questions on the future platforms and the Fiesta hatchback.

Fiesta hatchback for India?-

Ford appreciates the kind of response the Fiesta hatch has generated among Ford enthusiasts in India. Facebook pages have been filled with questions on the Fiesta hatch, and Ford has taken note of it. But instead of the hatch, Ford says the demand for them to deliver a premium sedan is huge. Ford officials reiterated the confused positioning the hatch' introduction will create in India as the Fiesta Classic is now costing less. The hatch Ford wants to sell is the Figo. The Fiesta hatch might not be part of the eight products to India by mid-decade.

What the Fiesta S did to Ford India -

As we mentioned earlier, the 1.6S variant has been discontinued. Its demise was silent but the product helped build a reputation for the Fiesta brand in India. Ford said they readily invested in the product and it delivered in ways they expected it to. There will be no S variant on the new Fiesta. The knowledge from developing the Fiesta has been put into the development of the new Fiesta for India.

On the future platforms for India -

Ford said B, C, CD platforms will arrive in India. Future models will be based on global platforms. Ford will manufacture different top-hats on these global platforms (like MPV or SUV using the same base) for India by mid-decade.

We can expect to see plenty of products on the B-Platform (perhaps even a MPV and an SUV) which the new Fiesta is based on. The next generation Endeavour will also be based on a global platform.

Popular B-Platform spin-offs are the Fiesta hatch and sedan, C-Platform underpins the Focus hatch, sedan and wagon, and the CD Platform is used on the Ford Mondeo. The next generation Endeavour could be based on the new Ranger platform (codename - T6).