The 2018 Ford Aspire (facelift) will launch in India on 4 October 2018. Ahead of its introduction, a showroom-ready unit of the refreshed car has been spotted by TusharK of Team-BHP forum.
The 2018 Ford Aspire (facelift) gets a thoroughly restyled front-end borrowed from the 2018 Ford Ka+. It features a new grille that looks sleeker and has a chrome finish. The new front bumper is sportier and carries chrome appliques to complement the radiator grille. The side profile gets freshness from a set of new multi-spoke alloy wheels that will be offered on the Titanium trim. The rear-end receives a new bumper that carries faux air vents at its edges.
On the inside, the 2018 Ford Aspire (facelift) sports a reworked centre-console that looks inspired from that of the Freestyle. The first generation SYNC infotainment system has been replaced with the SYNC3 unit that has a 6.5-inch touchscreen display. It provides Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integration. There's also a push start-stop button placed close to the instrument panel. Except for these changes, the dual-tone beige & black cabin of the Aspire remains intact.
The 2018 Ford Aspire (facelift) will be powered by the new 1.2-litre, three-cylinder, naturally-aspirated petrol engine that is found under the hood of the Freestyle. Set to replace the current 1.2-litre, four-cylinder powerplant, it offers a maximum power of 96 PS along with a peak torque of 120 Nm. It will come mated to a 5-speed manual transmission as standard and a 6-speed automatic as optional. The diesel version will retain the current 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine that comes mated to a five-speed gearbox. It outputs a maximum power of 100 PS and a peak torque of 215 Nm.
Ford and Mahindra are said to be working on an Aspire EV that should launch next year, besides a C-Segment SUV for the future. Dr Pawan Goenka, MD of Mahindra Automotive, has said that the two companies are exploring various possibilities including manufacturing, sourcing, engineering and retail.
[Source- team-bhp.com]
