It looks to be a busy six months ahead for Ford and Sime Darby AutoConneXion, with three vehicle launches before the year is out and another two due in early 2016. The Ford Ranger T6 facelift is slated to be launched in the country in October/November, and word is that the second-generation Everest SUV will also be previewed here at that point.
Pricing for the Ranger facelift will be increased by around 3% higher than presently, and there's also news on that front for the new Everest - the third-gen U375 will go on sale here in two versions, a rather basic rear-wheel drive 2.2L (called the XLT) and a much higher-specified 3.2 all-wheel drive variant. The latter is essentially a mid-level Thai-spec Titanium (or mid-level Australian-spec Trend, with Titanium elements).
According to SDAC MD Lee Eu San, pricing for the Everest is still a ways from being firmed up, but tentatively, the 2.2 is expected to go for around RM180k while the 3.2 litre will be priced in the region of RM230-240k.
He also mentioned that the second-generation S-Max is due to arrive sometime in November - the MPV will join the fifth-gen Mondeo as the flagship offerings for the brand until the arrival of the S550 Mustang in early 2016. As for pricing, expect an increase of around 5% from before.
Finally, the third-gen Focus facelift - it's expected to make its local debut next January, and is set to go the turbo route in line with the change in powertrain and drivetrain selection for the region (and Australia).
The revised C346 will now feature a 1.5 litre EcoBoost mill (currently seen in the 2015 Kuga, which was quietly introduced last month in place of the 1.6 litre EB version) - essentially, the unit replaces the current normally-aspirated 2.0 and 1.6 litre four-pots available for the region.
In Europe, the 1.5 litre EcoBoost is available in 150 PS and 180 PS output states of tune - whether or not both tunes will feature in the Asean cars remains to be seen (to differentiate the range as per 1.6 and 2.0), but the 180 PS output should be a certainty.
Another interesting snippet, and this is the possibility that diesel Fords may eventually make their way here - the availability of Euro 5 diesel in the Klang Valley has obviously kick started hamsters. Nothing concrete has been set, but SDAC says it's looking into the possibility of running trials with some diesel-powered vehicles in the near future - model-wise, the second-gen C344 C-Max may be a possible candidate.
Not cheap, of course - a more cost effective route would be to explore the idea of a diesel Focus down the line. The idea isn't as far fetched as it seems; it was reported earlier that there were plans to introduce a revised 2.0 litre turbodiesel TDCi variant for the Australian market with the Focus facelift. If these plans are still in place, and with Focus production coming from Rayong, there might be a likelihood we could see a return of a TDCi Focus here. Stay tuned.
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