Ford has recently announced plans to invest up to €200 million to manufacture the EcoSport crossover at its Craiova Assembly Plant in Romania starting in the autumn of 2017. Also, Ford made a commitment to launch five new SUVs and crossovers in Europe by 2019, the first of which will be the new Edge, which is set to debut in the second quarter of 2016. Now, the Blue Oval is looking to benefit from the boom of the crossover market by adding rugged version of its mainstream cars.
That’s the word from Barb Samardzich, Ford of Europe CEO, who told Automotive News that the strategy is similar to Audi’s Allroad range.
“We see a big growth area in vehicles that are a bit rugged. They are not SUVs but they still have a more active look to them," she said, adding that the look could be applied to several models, including smaller vehicles such as the Fiesta. "Put some black cladding in the right places, a roof-rack and you could get it looking a lot more active," she concluded.
Samardzich declined to confirm if these rugged-looking cars are part of the five new crossover/SUV bundle set to be launched over the next three years, but they are expected to hit the market in the near future alongside the redesigned Edge and facelifted Kuga. The most likely candidates for the rugged exterior package are the Focus Estate and the Fiesta, but the wagon version of the midsize Mondeo could also be in the books.
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