Ford Breeds New Euro Kuga

By Richard Yarrow

Richard Yarrow

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Richard Yarrow After more than seven years on staff at Auto Express, Britain's top selling weekly car magazine, Richard left in fall 2005 to spend... More

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1 7,035 views Sep 12, 2007

2009 Ford Kuga

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The name reminds us a little bit of the Cougar, yet it also reminds us of the Puma. Unfortunately — read it and weep — the new Kuga has more in common with the latter, a zippy, well-designed little sport coupe, based on the Fiesta, that was never brought into the U.S. market. The Kuga is based on the European-market Focus, which means it couldn't be built any cheaper in the U.S. alongside our cut-rate Focus, so that's end-of-story for us for this sporty little German.

Which is a shame, because the production Kuga looks to be one very attractive package and a sure-fire hot seller in the U.S. at this time when people are downsizing yet favoring sporty crossovers. And if Ford ever decided to bring Merkur back, the high-back black-and-red sport seats and matte-metallic finishes would be right and ready.

The Kuga unveiled on Ford's Frankfurt stand is in “near production form,” according to the automaker, and will go on sale in early 2008. The model will come either with front-wheel drive or with an 'intelligent' all-wheel-drive system that will bring, the automaker says, “substantial off-road ability.”

Power for the show car is provided by a 136-bhp, 2.0-liter 'Duratorq' turbodiesel, with a six-speed manual transmission, though the production vehicle will also offer gasoline variants.

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