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NEWS
Hot hatch power for Kuga
New 176kW EcoBoost four powers up Ford softroaderFord is gearing up to grab share in the hotly contested compact SUV marketplace with improved and powered up versions of its Kuga softroader.
Announced today but not available until January (2015), the Kuga range will now be headed by a hot-hatch-like 176kW engine for the Trend and Titanium trim levels.
In all, Ford will offer three petrol engines across the updated Kuga range: 110 and 134kW 1.5-litre EcoBoost turbos and the new 176kW 2.0-litre range-topper.
In an aggressive shift in marketing focus, the new Kuga is being spruiked as "more powerful and fuel-efficient than Toyota's RAV4".
Said Ford in its press release: "When compared with 2.5-litre AWD [all-wheel drive] Toyota RAV4 models, the new 134kW EcoBoost offers more power and torque whilst still offering better fuel economy and the new 176kW high-output EcoBoost engines offers a considerable 44kW and 107Nm over the 2.5-litre Toyota with comparable economy".
Three trim levels continue in the revised line-up. The mid-grade Trend and top of the range Titanium continue as all-wheel drive and auto only and feature the new-to-Kuga 176kW/340Nm EcoBoost four.
Key to sales growth, however, is likely to be the addition of a 134kW/240Nm auto front-drive variant of the entry level Ambiente.
Commenting on the arrival of the variant Ford Australia Vice President of Marketing, Sales and Service Graeme Whickman stated: "We've had strong customer feedback for a two-wheel drive automatic variant and we've responded to that feedback with a new model.
"There is a customer-base that appreciates the convenience of an SUV that doesn't necessarily need all the benefits of AWD and the addition of the two-wheel drive automatic Ambiente provides this customer with the perfect solution," he said.
The new front-driver takes to three the number of entry-level Kugas. The 134kW auto AWD and price-leading 110kW/240Nm manual front-drive version of the base grade will continue to be offered.
Ford has yet to announce pricing for the updated range but claims modest fuel economy improvements on the Ambiente models (see table below).
Both manual and auto 1.5-litre Ambiente models now feature auto stop-start.
The new 2.0-litre Trend and Titanium models get 42kW and 100Nm boosts over the cars they replace at the 'cost' of 0.6L/100km (8.6 v 8.0L/100km).
In terms of power and fuel economy, however, Subaru's Forester XT (arguably the most directly comparable competitor) pips the Kuga claiming 177kW and 8.5L/100km.
Ford is yet to announce performance claims for the new Kuga.
Ford will release details of the uprated turbo-diesel Kuga models in the coming weeks. The highlight of that line-up is expected to be a new 400Nm (up from 340) turbo-diesel option.
2015 Ford Kuga range details
Ambiente FWD man – 110kW/240Nm 1.5-litre; 6.3L/100km (was 6.7)
Ambiente FWD auto – 134kW/240Nm 1.5-litre; 7.0L/100km (new)
Ambiente AWD auto – 134kW/240Nm 1.5-litre; 7.6L/100km (was 7.7)
Trend AWD auto – 176kW/340Nm 2.0-litre; 8.6L/100km (was 8.0, see text)
Titanium AWD auto – 176kW/340Nm 2.0-litre; 8.6L/100km (was 8.0, see text)
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Written byCarsales Staff
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Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
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