FIGO - MI MEJOR AMIGO, OCT-2011

Three days with my friend Jag's Ford Figo

If bringing a smile on one’s face is special then, what do we say about bringing a grin on one’s face and sustaining that for three full days?? Accomplishment?? Could be, and Iam beginning to think Ford has hit the sweet spot with their humble USD 15,000 hatch back, the Figo. A Bimmer or Merc could bring smile to many families just with an appearance but driving one would remain a distant dream and its cars like these which meet the stringent demands at a price affordable by many. I didn’t just drive her through some of the most demanding terrains over 3 rain drenched days but, lived every second with her and admired the way she responded and reacted to the slightest turn or press. No wonder, it has won more honors than any other car in Indian automotive history, was voted Indian Car of the Year 2011, has clinched 20 Indian auto Industry awards and was named runner up in South African Car of the Year Awards 2011. Its staggering to understand the 100,000th Figo was delivered just 15 months after launch in a market historically dominated by less expensive and highly popular Suzuki Hatches. The number of happy families is bound to increase with a robust economic growth and it wouldn’t be a surprise when this figure doubles. For the asking price, she’s astonishingly dynamic (even car’s twice the price struggle against her on fast corners) and astoundingly frugal. You could thrash her around a corner against the “G” but she wouldn’t complain, you could feed her rationed fuel but she wouldn’t go thirsty, you could load four in comfort with their backpack’s but she wouldn’t bother and you could drive her all day non-stop but she would still manage to throw new surprises around every corner you turn into. When Ferrari replaced their legendary F355 in 1999 with the 360 Modena, they had to go all out on technology and performance front to ensure, the success and cult was carried on from their highly successful model which had sold an “astonishing” 11,000 numbers over 5 years. With the talks of a Figo replacement in 2013 already in air, it’s not hard to imagine the task ahead for Ford to ensure a carry over of the success from a car which had sold ten times as much in just one year.

Figo – Mi Mejor Amigo.