Ford Never Made The Facelifted Ecosport, So This Owner Went Ahead And Did It Himself

Ford broke many hearts when it suddenly quit its India operations. Not just those of petrolheads, but also of Ford owners who could no longer dream of upgrading to an even better, even more well-equipped vehicle from the carmaker in the future. 

Right before Ford ended local production and largely pulled out of the Indian market in 2021, the carmaker had been looking to launch a second facelifted version of the Ford Ecosport in the country. But this subcompact SUV never made it to production, so we only know of it from spy sightings.

However, Chennai-based Idumbakumar has sourced some of the parts from the never-sold units to modify his own 2021 Ecosport S SUV to bring this “replica” second-facelift Ecosport to reality. Moreover, he’s added more components from closely related Ford cars (Focus, Fiesta, Puma) sold overseas to custom-build his Ecosport with features and amenities only seen in the most cutting edge of SUVs even in 2023.

Looks like unreleased 2021 Ecosport facelift 

Ford only had light revisions in store for the Ecosport’s second facelift, no sheet metal changes. At the front it got a beefier chrome-lined grille, a redesigned bumper with L-shaped DRLs and integrated turn indicators. In addition, it had LED taillights and five-split spoke machined alloy wheels.

Idumbakumar sourced the original components from various places, including units headed to the scrapyard. He swapped out the front bumper and grille and related components, adding a new module for the LED DRL/indicator. The taillight he could get was broken, so he had it refurbished.

In addition, although the red SUV currently has its stock alloys, he does have the original split-spoke alloys as well on a different Ecosport SUV (pictured). 

Much better equipped on the inside 

Back in 2021, we didn’t expect the Ecosport’s second facelift to add a lot of features, only cosmetic updates. But Idumbakumar has added amenities such as an updated version of the Sync 3 infotainment system (Sync 4 in the works), front parking sensors, an ST-Line steering wheel (from the sportier Focus ST hatchback) and even a fully digital driver’s display and a heads-up display.

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Moreover, he also added a front camera to his Ecosport that gives this SUV driver assistance features (ADAS) such as adaptive cruise control and blind-spot monitoring. Even in 2023, no subcompact SUV is offered with ADAS in India yet.

Now, for the price – it cost Idumbakumar around Rs 40,000 to procure the parts required for the exterior modifications. The fully digital instrument cluster alone cost around Rs 70,000, but these prices are just for the parts, and installing them and getting them to work was a task in itself, and it’s harder to put a price on the hours of effort by Idumbakumar and others who helped him along the way.

Ford might have left the Indian market, but there’s still a wealth of OEM as well as aftermarket parts available around the world for many of its vehicles that are still plying on our roads. Cars have become exponentially feature-loaded in the last two years, but enthusiasts such as Idumbakumar continue to find new ways to modernise older Fords.

Image credits: Idumbakumar (YT: CreativeSRI)