While we’ve been consumed with the ramp-up to next week’s Detroit Auto Show, there’s a more pressing matter on the international car events calendar – this week’s New Delhi Auto Expo. Ford Motor Company isn’t overlooking the burgeoning biennial show, and it’s taking the opportunity to reveal its first-ever world debut at the show, the next Ford EcoSport.

Debuting with a sliver of show-only frosting (check out those glitzy headlamps), the tiny crossover is about the same size as the Fiesta five-door, and it’s built on the Blue Oval’s new global B-Car architecture. Ford isn’t revealing much in the way of powertrain specifics for this thinly disguised model, but our sources tell us the EcoSport will see the first application of the company’s new 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine in India (yes, that means there will be an EcoSport EcoBoost), and presumably there will be an ethanol variant as well.

The upright CUV has been designed with emerging markets in mind, namely portions of Asia and South America, so we’re unlikely to see it in North America (we’d be more likely to receive the B-Max MPV), though our sources tell us that an eventual European market appearance is not out of the question. Roughly 90 percent of cars in those markets are B-Segment or smaller, and the previous generation of the Brazilian-built EcoSport has sold some 750,000 units since hitting the market nine years ago.

While the original EcoSport sold almost exclusively in Brazil, the new model will spread its wings to take on a more global role as part of the company’s One Ford agenda. To be assembled in both India and Brazil, the EcoSport represents the first time that Ford’s team in Camacari, Brazil has taken the lead in conceiving a global product, another indication of the market’s growing importance. The new EcoSport will be a lynchpin for the Blue Oval, who expect the Asia Pacific region to swallow up to one out of every three Ford vehicles sold by 2020 (it’s just one in six today).

Want more proof of India’s rise in importance? Officials tell us that Ford plans to treat the Delhi show as a first-tier show going forward, on par with Detroit, the Frankfurt Motor Show, and so on. Ostensibly, the show will replace a Tokyo Motor Show presence for the Dearborn automaker, as Ford was absent from last month’s show in Japan.

UPDATE: Additional photos and sketches have been added to the gallery, along with two official videos and a press release after the jump.

Continue reading Next Ford EcoSport now playing at New Delhi Auto Expo [UPDATE]

Next Ford EcoSport now playing at New Delhi Auto Expo [UPDATE] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While we’re gearing up for the 2012 Detroit Auto Show next month, Ford is getting read to take on the Delhi Auto Expo with a gamut of production and concept vehicles. The company has released a teaser for what is likely the company’s next EcoSport CUV to stir up interest.

The second-generation production vehicle is likely based on the same platform as the Ford Fiesta (the outgoing EcoSport is based on Ford’s foreign market Fusion crossover) and will make its way around the globe in select markets as part of the automaker’s “One Ford” strategy. That means European buyers will get a shot at taking home an EcoSport of their own, though we don’t expect the model to show up on our shores anytime soon.

Ford will also show off the company’s Figo, Fiesta, Ford Classic and Endeavour to the Indian market. The Delhi Auto Expo kicks off on January 7 and runs through January 11. Hit the jump for the full press release.

Continue reading Ford teases next EcoSport ahead of New Delhi

Ford teases next EcoSport ahead of New Delhi originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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