The value of regional design centers: Ford EcoSport
The new Ford EcoSport was simultaneously unveiled at New Delhi Auto Show and at a presentation in the Brazilian capital Brasilia, earlier this year. The concept previews the latest generation of the best selling compact SUV in Brazil, where it has led the market in the South American country for almost ten years.
The EcoSport has become a local icon for Ford and the development of the new model in Brazil is an important milestone for the company's local Camaçari Product Development Centre.
Present in Brazil for over 90 years, Ford started its design studio in the late '60s, acquiring the former Willys Overland premises. For a long time, the studio was therefore located in the Sao Paulo region but following government incentives the Camaçari Product Development Centre was opened next to an all-new Ford plant in 2002, where the EcoSport has been produced since 2004.
Ford is currently investing $3 billion in its South American operations and the EcoSport will be the first vehicle developed at Camaçari Product Development Centre to be sold globally. ord of South America's Chief Designer, Egyptian-born Ehab Kaoud, points out the 'we can do' spirit of the Brazilian design team directed by Joao Marcos Ramos as a key determinant in the project's success.
As the new EcoSport was designed as part of the One Ford strategy, J. Mays assigned an international team. Kaoud worked with João Marcos Ramos' team in Brazil and the team in Detroit.
Despite being the first global project developed in Brazil, this is not the first model to follow the Kinetic design philosophy that Ramos and his team have worked on, having been involved with the Iosis X concept.
Kaoud, who has been at Ford since he left Art Center College of Art and Design 17 years ago, points out that for this new EcoSport, it was necessary to "test the boundaries with different models", to match the diverse expectations and tastes of the nearly one hundred different countries in which the car will be sold. While several designs were proposed, the one favoured in each country at the interim stage of the project was basically the same. It proved that "we did our homework with marketing research", says Kaoud.
The development of a global product was an extra challenge for Kaoud and Ramos. Both designers were involved on the first EcoSport, but that model and this new one have very different goals. While the 2004 EcoSport saved Ford Brazil from a crisis and restored the local brand image, the new model has to conquer the world, hit the zeitgeist and compete in more developed markets.
Furthermore, in Brazil, Argentina and India - primary markets for the EcoSport - there is now strong competition from the Korean brands and Renault-Dacia. Not only have market shares changed, but customers' aesthetic desires are now more about fashion and distinctiveness, than utilitarianism and durability.
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