Ford Verve premium hatchback for India

A new supermini is on the cards for India – the Ford Verve.

Ford Verve concept photo

Ford India recently managed to generate quite a bit of excitement for its refreshed Ford Ikon, despite the car being quite long in the tooth. It was one of the first affordable three box cars for the middle class Indian car buyer, and almost a decade later, the new Ford Ikon remains so.

Photo:The European Ford Fiesta may come to India as Ford Verve

The Ford Fiesta, which too saw cosmetic changes and some nice colours make an appearance too has been well-received. It is an affordable, and reasonably classy small sedan in the C segment in India, battling it out with the Suzuki SX4, Mahindra Logan, Hyundai Verna and the old and new Honda City.

But apparently, Ford does not want to rest. After all, it just discountinued the much-loved but hardly bought Ford Fusion premium hatchback. The Fusion was powerful, spacious, and distinct – but always priced a wee bit above what customers were willing to pay for it. Even with price reductions, the Fusion did not sell.

Ford India hopes to change all that with the upcoming supermini, the Ford Verve. At least, that’s what the car is called now. The Ford Verve will take its design cues from the European Ford Fiesta (not the Indian one), as well as the Mazda2. It is believed that the Ford Verve will share its platform with the small car being planned for Brazil, and engines would come from the European Ford Fiesta. Most likely, they would be the least powerful and msot frugal of the European Fiesta’s powerplants, but they would be more than adequate to power the Verve on Indian roads.

At this point, we have no photos – and nor have anyone else – of the upcoming Ford Verve. However, the car is sure to take some inspiration from the Ford Verve concept car, whose photos we do have?

So what would be the competition for the Ford Verve? The Chevrolet U-VA, the Skoda Fabia, the Fiat Grande Punto and the Suzuki Swift come to mind. Much would depend on the price and positioning; we would be keeping an eagle eye on this one.

And the launch date of the Ford Verve? We believe it would be after April 2009, though we hear some noises about a potential March 2009 launch too. Keep coming back for more!