Ford introduced an update for EcoSport in May, but the sales haven’t improved and the compact SUV registered 50 per cent negative growth last month
Ford EcoSport was the model, which made the compact SUV segment popular among customers and the sales were really strong during the first couple of years but the competition has caught up. The company introduced the facelift model of EcoSport earlier this year but it hasn’t helped the compact SUV to improve sales.
In November 2018, Ford has managed to sell 2724 units when compared to same month last year as the company sold 5474 units and registered negative growth of 50 per cent, which is not a good sign for the future. When compared to October 2018, the EcoSport again registered negative growth of 31 per cent.
The EcoSport slipped from 5th to 6th position in top 10 SUV sales for last month as the Nexon has already cemented its place as the second best selling SUV in India and in November, the WR-V also overtook the Ford as the Japanese manufacturer sold 2786 units as the crossover jumped from 7th to 5th position in November.
Even though the general trend of the auto industry is negative due to the lack of dull festival season and most of the model registered negative growth but the downward trend of EcoSport is much higher than its rivals. Ford is trying everything in the book to improve sales.
Also, the EcoSport is currently sold by Mahindra dealerships as well in 15 cities as part of the trail run and if the initial results are positive, the Indian manufacturer is expected to increase the number of dealerships which sell Ford products in coming months.
Tata Motors is currently working on a hybrid version of Nexon, which is expected to be introduced in 2020. When compared to EcoSport, the Nexon is a new product and it comes with a modern design theme as it is one of the reasons for its success. Ford is currently working on a new SUV based on a Mahindra platform and it will be launched next year.