Brazil's INMETRO measures Ford EcoSport's fuel economy

Only tests the 1.6-litre 16V Sigma engine for now; results seem impressive though.

Like India and China, Brazil too awaits the commercial launch of the Ford EcoSport. But while the waiting game inches closer to its conclusion, the authorities in Brazil are busy evaluating the claims that the carmaker will make with the EcoSport upon its launch. Just the way you have the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), the Brazilians have the National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality or INMETRO in short. However, while ARAI is only restricted to the automotive industry, the INMETRO governs and certifies a variety of industries and the related paraphernalia. Nevertheless, one of these certifications includes evaluation the fuel-economy claims by carmakers.

The INMETRO then, has gotten its hands on the upcoming Ford EcoSport in Brazil and has put the compact crossover through its fuel economy tests. The engine doing duty in this series of test mules is the 1.6-litre 16V Sigma flex-fuel engine, which runs on petrol as well as ethanol and is mated to a five-speed manual transmission. As per reports released by the INMETRO, the Ford EcoSport manages to return 10.2 kmpl on a city cycle and 12.2 kmpl on a highway cycle. These figures are for pure petrol propulsion. On ethanol, the EcoSport’s fuel economy in the city and on the highway is 7 kmpl and 8.4 kmpl respectively. 

These figures look pretty decent considering they are coming from a 1.6-litre motor. In India though, the EcoSport will get a 1.0-litre, 3-cylinder EcoBoost petrol engine which puts out 120 PS of power and 170 Nm of torque. While that sounds too little for a compact crossover, its turbocharged induction is sure to bump up fuel economy and give it a peppy character. We expect the Indian EcoSport to return a fuel economy of more than 13 kmpl in the city and over 15 kmpl on the highway in real-world conditions.