Ford small car to be unveiled by CEO

Wheelsunplugged.com reports that the much-anticipated Ford small car for India will be unveiled for the Indian market by the Ford Motor Company President and CEO, Alan Roger Mulally.

FORD FIGO UNVEILED!!

Photo: Ford Figo photo

Update: Ford Figo photo gallery

Ford has officially unveiled its small car for India, the Ford Figo. Ford Motor company CEO Alan Roger Mulally presented the car before the media at a press conference in New Delhi.

No tech specs of the car have been released as of this update. To view a photo gallery of the Ford Figo, click on the link above or the image.

When we say much anticipated, we are not saying it likely. Talk of a Ford small car started in 2007, when we published this story Ford Small Car for India by end of 2008. We were totally wrong about the launch date, but so we all other Indian newspapers, so we are in august company there! The launch of the Tata Nano sent many on the wrong track later, when Ford clarified that the proposed small car is no Nano competitor.

Even the code name we had heard about then turned out to be incorrect. The code name of the Ford small car is B517. It is believed that the small car would be just ‘unveiled’ on 23 September by Alan Roger Mulally – that is not a launch. The actual launch, when the car would actually enter the Indian market, will be March 2010.

Other publicly available information at this point include basic engine details and manufacturing plants. We know that the car would conform to the definition of small car by the Indian government, thus enabling the company to attract a lower excise duty of 8 per cent. The length of the Ford small car thus would be under 4 meters.

There will be a petrol engine of approx 1200 cc that will be on offer, as well as an approx. 1500 cc diesel engine. The car would be manufactured at the company’s Chennai plant.