Confusion reigns supreme. US publication Autoweek has reported that Ford will display a compact SUV concept at the North American International Auto Show next month in Detroit.
According to the publication, the information came from a Ford insider, who also revealed that the "near production concept" would provide the basis for a vehicle to replace two existing SUV models in the Ford global line-up -- Escape and Kuga.
As we reported back in July, the Kuga is currently being prepped for an upgrade model, which is due to be unveiled at the Geneva motor show in March of next year. It's likely that the concept developed for Detroit will be heavily based on the upgraded Kuga, yet the information in the Autoweek article seems to hint that the 2013 model SUV to be based on the concept will be all-new and will replace the (current?) Kuga. That seems unlikely to us, given that the Kuga has only been on sale for two years.
Production of the new SUV is scheduled to commence in late 2012, for launch as a 2013 model in North America. That leaves a life cycle of just four years for the current Kuga. According to Autoweek, the new SUV will be built in a North American factory for global consumption.
The article's unnamed source, based in Europe, has apparently told Autoweek that the transfer of SUV production to a North American plant would leave the Saarlouis facility in Germany free to build larger numbers of the third-generation Focus. Production of the new small car commenced there last week. Up until now Saarlouis has been building Kuga as well as the second-generation Focus; the SUV described in the article as a "hot seller" in Europe since it went on sale there in 2008.
It's uncertain how the new SUV will be named, with the possibility remaining that it might continue to be called 'Escape' in the US. The article raises the spectre of 'One Ford' and suggests that the rationalisation program dictates that cars built on global platforms use the same name in every market.
Autoweek hints that the American factory would supply Europe as well, making supply to the rest of the world almost a given. If the new SUV is built in the US for global consumption, that will be the point of origin for Australian-delivered vehicles too, logically. If Ford Australia goes ahead with importation of the car from the US, the Free Trade Agreement between Australia and the US could be of some benefit -- provided the Aussie dollar remains at or around parity with the Greenback.
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