Published on 12:00 AM, May 06, 2015

AUTO NEWS

Mustang Ecoboost coming to Bangladesh?

As far as halo cars go, Ford's Mustang is globally accepted as a true American icon, along with 5-dollar milkshakes and hotdogs.

The Ecoboost Mustang is a mouth-watering idea: 2.3 liter turbocharged 4 cylinder engine, 310 horsepower, 320 lb-ft of torque, rear wheel drive. Its nothing like the asthmatic old American V8s which powered the original 60's muscle-cars and produced 200hp from a 6.5 liter V8. Oh no. Ford is all about packaging and super high-efficiency nowadays, and their Ecoboost series of engines are incredible in the way they squeeze out brilliant power figures from tiny engines. There's also the traditional V8 Mustang, but the Ecooboost model is mainly aimed at untapped markets in Europe and Asia, which prefer efficient motoring over V8 hooliganism. As a result, the Ecoboost Mustang gets a right-hand drive export version, the first in Mustang history. Expect the handling characteristics to be of European sports car standards as well.

Due to the (relatively) small displacement of the Ecoboost Mustang, itsfavoured by the import duty structure placed on brand new vehicles in Bangladesh. While the V8 would be extremely costly to bring in, the Ecoboost is an exciting prospect for the Bangladeshi market, and AG Automobiles plans to boost Ford sales through the halo car.

In fact, insiders in the Ford dealership have hinted that the Mustang coming to Bangladesh as an officially sold model is highly likely. If, and when it does, expect order based imports. There are no indications as to what the pricing might be like, but whether it's going to be cost-effective motoring or not was never the issue. It IS a Mustang, after all.