And now for Ford's 2017 Kuga

Just hours after Ford Australia announced an upgraded 2016 Kuga, Ford of America has lifted the lid on a major midlife makeover for its version of the same mid-size SUV.

Although the Kuga is known as the Escape in the US, the changes you see for the top-shelf Titanium model pictured here are almost certain to flow through to Ford's Australian Kuga some time next year.

Indeed, Ford Australia spokesman Neil McDonald told motoring.com.au: "Officially this is the reveal of the new Escape. We'll have more to share about Kuga another time."

While next month's Kuga update brings Australians extra standard equipment including a reversing camera and SYNC2, the 2017 Escape – on sale in the US from March – brings a host of design and specification upgrades, including two new EcoBoost engines and SYNC3 infotainment with SYNC Connect.

The 2017 Escape is the first Ford model in the world available with SYNC Connect, which comes with complimentary activation for five years and allows drivers to un/lock the doors and check the battery, fuel level and tyre pressures of their vehicle remotely, and even start it and locate where it's parked via a smartphone app.

It will also gain a host of new advanced driver safety aids including driver fatigue detection, lane-keeping assistance and automated parking systems, plus many already available in Australia like adaptive cruise control and autonomous emergency braking.

Already available in the US Escape and therefore likely to join our Kuga at some stage are blind-spot monitoring and automatic high-beam control.

Similarly, Australian's already have access to the 2017 US Escape's 'new' 1.5- and 2.0-litre EcoBoost turbo-petrol engines with fuel-saving idle-stop function (the former in two states of tune) and a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel engine, matched to six-speed manual, automatic and dual-clutch transmissions.

The 1.5-litre engine replaces the entry-level Escape's 1.6-litre naturally aspirated engine, while a 2.5-litre atmo petrol four continues alongside the new EcoBoost engines in the US.

However, our Kuga is likely to score the new Escape's bolder new front-end design with fresh headlights, LED lighting signature and chromed two-bar trapezoidal grille, revised tail-lights and an upgraded interior with more storage space and mobile device charge ports.

The gear shifter is repositioned to allow improved access to climate control buttons and new storage bin at the bottom of the stack, while the media bin
houses a USB port and a covered power outlet for mobile device charging. Updated cupholders, a longer driver’s armrest and a push-button parking brake are also new.

Other new 2017 Escape features include Charcoal Black or Medium Stone seat trim for Titanium models, plus three new colors – Canyon Ridge, White Gold and Lightning Blue – and six new wheel designs.

“The compact SUV segment is the largest and most competitive in the United States, and the new Escape delivers even more of what our customers want – more technology they can really use to make their daily drive safer and easier,” said Joe Hinrichs, Ford's Americas president.

As in Australia, SUVs now account for almost a third of all new vehicle sales in the US, and Ford expects that figure to grow to 40 per cent by 2020, with SUV sales forecast to top five million this year for the first time.

Ford has sold more than three million Escapes in the US since its launch there in 2000, including 306,200 last year, making it the second best seller in its segment behind Honda's CR-V and Ford's top-selling model after the F-Series pick-up.

However, the second-generation Kuga on sale here since 2013 -- a year after the latest Escape hit the US -- has found just 3800 customers to October this year, when it accounted for only 3.7 per cent of the mid-size SUV segment. That makes it less popular here than the Mazda CX-5, Toyota RAV4, Subaru Forester, Mitsubishi Outlander, CR-V, Kia Sportage, Jeep Cherokee and Holden Captiva 5.

The visual changes for the US Escape, which is produced at Ford's Louisville Assembly Plant, follow similar upgrades seen earlier this year on Ford's larger US-market Edge and Explorer, both of which could join the EcoSport, Kuga and Everest in Ford Australia's SUV line-up when it waves goodbye to the homegrown Territory by this time this year.