Ford India introduced its compact sedan - New Ford Aspire - at an introductory price starting from Rs. 5.55 lakh (Ex-showroom). The New Ford Aspire is being offered in five variants and seven colour options. The top-end Titanium trims with automatic transmission costs all the way up to Rs. 8.49 lakh. What’s new are the cosmetic upgrade and the new petrol engines.

Despite the new updates, Aspire facelift costs less than the outgoing models. This aggressive pricing surely suggests at the desire to capture larger share of the compact sedan segment which is currently ruled by Maruti Suzuki’s Swift Desire.

“The New Ford Aspire is a complete package, tailor-made for those who don’t follow the crowd and want more out of their car experience,” said Anurag Mehrotra, President and Managing Director, Ford India. “With many segment-best and industry-first features, New Ford Aspire ensures that every customer gets what they desire - be it looks, the fun of driving attributes, safety and the most-affordable ownership experience.”

Notably, there’s been an addition of AMT variant this time offered in petrol engine option only. Moreover, Ford claims that new manual transmission on Aspire now is almost 15% lighter and helps improve fuel economy while reducing NVH.

However, it is the pricing that takes the cake here with substantial reduction in prices across all trims. Also there’s a new variant on offer that is Trend + (plus) which boasts of features such as front fog lamps, a 7.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system that doubles as a reverse camera display, steering-mounted audio controls, a rear defogger and an automatic climate control system.

In terms of design, there’s been change in the front fascia which now features a dynamic three-dimensional cellular grille. Additionally, New Ford Aspire also features premium alloys and bigger 15-inch tyres to deliver confidence and planted drive dynamics. As mentioned earlier, the seven colours include – White Gold, Moondust Silver, Smoke Grey, Absolute Black Deep Impact Blue, Ruby Red and Oxford White.