FORD’S
GIANT INDIAN ENDEAVOUR
The much awaited giant of an SUV from Ford India is finally
here, deliveries being held up because of a delay in homologation.
Yogendra Pratap gets in behind the wheel of the behemoth to discover
through this exhaustive road test whether it really delivers all
that it promised in terms of a discerning customer's practical,
safe and luxurious alternative to the homegrown self-styled SUVs.
This
vehicle has had its origins from the Mazda Fighter and or the Ford
Ranger which is built for the south-east Asian markets at the Ford-Mazda
JV plant at the Thai port city of Rayong. Its underpinnings remain
very much that of a pick-up truck while its engine is a Mazda derived
unit used for its low cost of manufacture coupled with the requirements
of these markets in terms of emission norms, fuel efficiency and
most of all - affordability. A Hiroshima based design team worked
to develop the Endeavour aka Everest and give it the qualities desired
by the developing markets. As we finally get to put the Endeavour
through the OVERDRIVE road test we discover all the areas where
the engineering team has been able to get the Endeavour up to expectations
and also those areas which leave something to be desired still.