New Ford SUV Spied For The First Time Ahead Of Its Expected Launch In Mid-2021: Spy Pics & Details

Ford entered into a partnership with Mahindra last year. As per the agreement between the two brands, all future Ford models in India will share their underpinnings with Mahindra models. The partnership also states that the home-grown carmaker will also handle production operations of the new Ford models for the Indian market.

While there are many models planned, the first Ford product to carry forward the Mahindra platform will be an all-new C-SUV (mid-size SUV). The new Ford SUV will be based on the Mahindra's upcoming XUV500 model and is expected to go on sale in the country sometime in mid-2021.

Ahead of its launch, a new photo has been leaked by thepetrobug/Instagram, which claims to be of the new Ford SUV. The spy pic showcases just the front grille of the SUV with the Ford logo at its centre. The image also reveals the central air intake on the front bumper along with the split-lighting arrangements on the upcoming SUV.

Talking about the upcoming Ford SUV, the model is said to share its design cues from the brand's global product lineup. However, the new SUV will receive additional styling elements from Pininfarina, the iconic Italian design studio owned by Mahindra. Also, as mentioned before the car will also share its platform and other components from the upcoming Mahindra XUV500, which is said to go on sale in India by early-2021.

However, the Ford SUV will come with a completely different design compared to that of the upcoming Mahindra XUV500. Earlier reports also suggested that the American car brand could also tweak the chassis and suspension slightly, ensuring it maintains similar driving dynamics as other models.

The new Ford C-SUV is expected to come powered by both petrol and diesel engine options. This will come in the form of 2.0-litre petrol and 2.2-litre diesel units, both producing around 180bhp of power output. The two engines will further be offered with both manual and automatic transmission units as well.

Thoughts On The New Ford SUV Spied For The First Time

The new Ford C-SUV will be the first of many models to use Mahindra underpinnings in the future. Post the launch of the Mahindra XUV500 based SUV, Ford also has plans of introducing a smaller B-SUV as well.

Coming back to the Ford C-SUV, once the new model is introduced in mid-2021 it will take on the likes of the Tata Harrier, Jeep Compass and the MG Hector in the segment.