“Sometimes, you have to wonder if Ford really favours Europeans over Americans,” writes a US contributor to autoblog.com today. “Sure, we have the Mustang and the trucks, which are great, but Europe wins pretty much everywhere else.”
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The prompt for this outburst: Ford of Europe’s newly-released photo of its Kuga crossover ‘preview’, due to make its public debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September.
“Their Focus is worlds better than the bizarre-looking thing we’re about to get, and now they’ve announced that Europe’s receiving a small crossover that’s likely to make [the US market] Escape [SUV] look ponderous by comparison,” the blogger wrote. He didn’t much like the name though: “…sounds like a Bostonian saying ‘Cougar’.”
Cue Ford of Europe President and CEO John Fleming: “With the launch of the Ford Kuga, we will keep the promise that we gave at the Paris motor show in 2006: to develop a stylish new model based on the stunning Iosis X concept car in less than two years.”
Added executive design director Martin Smith: “Kuga will stand out from the crowd by offering the visual excitement of ‘kinetic design’ and the on-road driving quality that customers… have come to expect from us.”
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By GlobalDataChief exterior designer Stefan Lamm said: “We believe that there is a role for a more athletic and charismatic vehicle that marks a departure from the norm, in the same way that the award-winning S-Max carved out new territory for an MPV [minivan].”
Ford will build the Kuga at Saarlouis in Germany and it goes on sale early next year.
The automaker gave no technical details but UK specialist media have said the Focus-based SUV may be offered with both two- and four-wheel drive and should have the full range of Focus engines. That means a variety of 1.6-2.0-litre I4 petrols and diesels, plus the sporty ST model’s 220hp five-cylinder motor.
Ford has previously sold a small SUV in Europe but the designed-for-the-US Escape, rebadged Maverick, was not a success this side of the Atlantic, due mostly to the gas-guzzling three-litre petrol V6 and a lack of the diesel engine essential for success in the segment here.
Graeme Roberts
