Force One SUV announced, July debut

Force One -- that is the name of the first SUV from Force Motors set to debut in July. The new SUV will be equipped with a 2.2 litre common rail direct injection engine with a maximum power output of 140 bhp @ 3800 rpm. The engine has been built in Force Motors’ Pithampur plant under licence from Daimler.

It will hit the market with a local content of 70-75 percent and has roped in suppliers such as Bosch, Rane, Lumax and Gabriel India.The interiors will include driver information system, cruise control, audio control mounted on steering, dual AC vents for each row. The vehicle will have 3-row seating. The ride and handling have been fine-tuned by Lotus Engineering.

The vehicle and the onboard electronics is audited and validated by Mercedes-Benz Technologies. The stamped body sheets and interiors from be sourced from Chinese carmaker Guangdong Foday.

The Pithampur plant for passenger vehicles has an installed annual production capacity of 12,000 units. “This can be ramped up to 18,000 or 20,000 units within six months”, says Prasan Firodia, MD, Force Motors. Force plans to sell 4,000 units of the SUV in its first year and double that in year 2. The SUV will be priced between Rs 10 – 12 lakh. Force One will take on the Safari and Scorpio.

Under a newly-formed Passenger Vehicle Division that sports a new logo, Force Motors will have 20 dealers in the first phase. “Around 70 percent of them are new while the rest are part of the existing network,” says Firodia. To showcase the technology, Force will try a new concept of displaying the chassis and underbody of the Force One at dealerships.

After Force One, the company plans to launch a Multi Purpose Vehicle (MPV) in late 2012 or early 2013. “Most of the work on the MPV will be done in-house”, says Firodia. The Toyota Innova is the benchmark in developing the MPV. The MPV will be followed by the next generation of the Force One.

Force Motors’s Passenger Vehicle Division head, Sanjeev Garg says that the next generation SUV will co-exist with the Force One.