New Ford Figo Aspire Small Sedan Launched in India with Affordable Price and 1.5 Diesel

If the Figo Aspire looks familiar, that's because it's the same car as the Ka sold in South America. It should also make it into European showrooms by 2016 as a 5-door hatchback. The one major difference between the Figo Aspire and the Ka is that the back has been cut to make it shorter. Vehicles that are under 4 meters in length have certain tax benefits in India, and the vast majority of sales come from this segment.

Ford has struggled to compete in India, the world's fifth largest car market. Asian manufacturers have proven much more capable of offering a cost-competitive yet attractive small car. Last year, the American company only managed 75,000 sales and was dwarfed by market leader Maruti Suzuki.

The Figo Aspire could change all that because its base price is only Rs 4.89 lakh. We won't bore you with the details, but what you need to know is that anything under 5 lakh is considered cheap.

The small sedan will be available with a choice of three different engines. Base models get a 1.2-liter Ti-VCT petrol that churns out 88 PS at 6,300rpm and 112 Nm of torque at 4,000rpm. Next up, we have the 1.5-liter TDCi, which offers 100 PS and 215 Nm of torque. Both engines offer a 5-speed manual gearbox as standard.

Lastly, the new Figo also comes with a 1.5-liter Ti-VCT engine that produces 112 PS at 6,300rpm and 136 Nm of torque at 5,250rpm. It's the only one available with the PowerShift 7-speed dual clutch automatic gearbox.

Ford's game changer comes with a number of interesting features, such as the first-in-class six airbags, Ford MyKey and steering wheel controls. The 2015 Ford Figo Aspire will be available in Ambiente, Trend, Titanium and Titanium+ trims and will come in six exterior color choices: Ruby Red, Sparkling Gold, Oxford White, Tuxedo Black, Deep Impact Blue, Ingot Silver and Smoke Grey.