Comparison: Ford Figo Aspire vs Competition

Ford India forayed into the money-making compact sedan segment by launching the Figo Aspire compact sedan yesterday in the country. The Figo Aspire was launched in price range of INR 5.40-9.06 lakhs (on-road, Delhi) in a total of nine variants, including the automatic petrol. Ford Figo Aspire is up against some real heavyweights like Maruti Swift DZire, Honda Amaze, Hyundai Xcent and Tata Zest. Although, the company has priced the Aspire sedan quite aggressively amidst such tough competition, lets find out whether it will survive the battle and stake claim for glory or not.

The compact sedan segment is ruled by Maruti’s magnum-opus Swift DZire, ever since its launch in 2008. Just so you know, it has just entered the elite club of selling 1 million units. On an average, Maruti sells around 15,000 units of the Swift Dzire every month, and it has constantly showed its presence in the top 10 cars sales chart. Recently, the company launched the updated iteration of Dzire and it was priced in a bracket of INR 5.57-8.59 lakhs (on-road, Delhi), which is almost identical to Figo Aspire’s price, save for a few thousands. Hence, breaching Maruti’s fortress won’t be easy for Ford as far as pricing is concerned.

The second able contender in this segment is Honda Amaze, which since its introduction in April 2013, has been a major asset for the company. It was presented in both petrol and diesel fuel trims, which remains to be one of the most prolific reasons of its success in India. Being priced in a domain of INR 5.69-9.03 lakhs (on-road, Delhi), it gave tough fight to the Maruti DZire, at least initially. But, as one can see, there is a gap of around INR 30,000 between the base variant of Amaze & Figo Aspire, and it is good enough to drift buyers away from the Honda nut.

The third and most balanced car of the segment is Hyundai Xcent, which made its debut last year. Being based on the company’s Grand i10 hatchback, it marked the global debut of Xcent. A special mention goes to the rear A/C vents and 1 GB internal storage as till today, it isn’t available in any of the compact sedans. Hyundai Xcent price starts from 5.53 lakhs and goes as high as INR 8.56 lakhs (on-road, Delhi). It is as competitive a deal as one can get, with so much to offer. It would be difficult to predict if Ford Figo Aspire would snatch some of Xcent’s buyers as both are really value-for-money products.

The last but by no means the least, Tata Zest was launched in August 2014 in the country. And, it wouldn’t be an understatement to name Zest the best looking sedan of the lot – personal view, though. Each and every chap is evident of Tata Motors’ reach in rural markets and tier III and II cities, hence, it wouldn’t be a cakewalk for Figo Aspire to penetrate that and get away with Zest’s buyers. Tata Zest, like all other compact sedans, is priced in a range of INR INR 5.35-8.88 lakhs (on-road, Delhi). For those asking, it is the only sedan in its segment to offer an AMT gearbox in diesel fuel trim.