Ford gives the Endeavour a posh look

Our Corporate Bureau
20 July 2006

Premium SUVs available in India, which are priced above Rs 12 lakh, include the Nissan X-Trail, the Toyota Land Cruiser, GM Forester, Hyundai Terracan and Tucson, the Honda CR-V and the Ford Endeavour.

The Ford Endeavour, the leader in the premium SUV segment in India comes priced at Rs 13.9 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) for the 4X2 variant and Rs 14.8 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) for the 4X4 (four-wheel drive).

The Endeavour is priced at the bottom of the heap with other models being priced in the Rs 15 lakh to Rs 40 lakh range. The priciest one of course is the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado at Rs 38 lakh (ex-showroom). The Honda CR-V at Rs 15 to Rs 17 lakh is priced closest to the Endeavour.

Basically the Endeavour is a traditional SUV, meant for offroad conditions. It can seat seven passengers and is equipped with luxury features like power windows, power and tilt steering and personalised dual air-conditioning with independent controls for front and rear seats. It is powered by a 2.5 litre turbocharged and inter-cooled diesel engine.

In an effort to increase its attractiveness to luxury passenger car buyers, Ford has added plush leather seats with trim inserts in the doors of the Endeavour. It has also been incorporated with a new high-end, Kenwood sound system, which offers MP3 / WMA / AAC playback formats, a 64-colour LCD with blackout function, rotary encoder and jog control knob for easy operation, and a handheld remote-control.

The Endeavour model is basically a South East Asian model, based on the Ford Ranger pickup truck, but is simpler and more rugged, definitely not as sophisticated as a CR-V or Forester.