SAO PAULO SHOW: Ford EcoSport Storm
Ford's baby SUV gets the tuner car treatment via three new concept designsThree new Ford EcoSport compact SUV concepts have made their debut at the Sao Paulo motor show in Brazil, headlined by the rugged EcoSport Storm.
Inspired by the beastly F-150 Raptor ute which is popular in the US, the EcoSport Storm is finished in Blue Storm paint (naturally) and is fitted with an aggressive grille with large Ford lettering, rugged black body cladding – wheel arches, skirts, bumpers – and dark 15-inch alloys shod with ultra-chunky 215/75 profile off-road rubber.
Ford says the nuggety EcoSport Storm "was created to convey strength and power".
The other two EcoSport concepts include the EcoSport Beauty and Beast, the latter a street-inspired design that features larger 18-inch alloy wheels with sporty tyres, pearlescent white exterior paint, LED fog lights, orange and metallic blue highlights and even bonnet scoop – though there's no mention of engine tuning.
The most powerful EcoSport model available in Australia is propelled by a 92kW/170Nm three-cylinder turbo-petrol engine displacing 1.0-litre.
The rear seats of the EcoSport Beast have also been deleted, replaced by bike racks.
The EcoSport Beauty, a more conservative take on the tiny 4.25 metre long Ford, gets Copper Stardust metallic paint, contrasting black roof, four individual seats for improved rear passenger comfort along with rear seat screens, LED fog lights and 18-inch alloy wheels.
Although all three concepts are very much flights of fancy at this stage, Ford says the models "show the ability, versatility and customisation possibilities of the SUV" and observes that the vehicles have "great worldwide repercussions".
The Indian-built Ford EcoSport compact SUV has been on sale in Australia almost a year now and is yet to make any impact on the sales charts.
Although special editions like these seen in Brazil would unlikely be hot sellers, they would help focus attention on the new model, which has sold just 1532 units so far in 2014 (to the end of September).
By comparison, it's been outsold by almost every mainstream small SUV in the segment, including the quirky Nissan JUKE (1876 units), Holden Trax (4499), Mitsubishi ASX (7046) and league leader Hyundai ix35 (13,755).
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