Puma will be unveiled in the fall of 2019, at the Frankfurt auto show, and will replace the EcoSport, according to consulting firm Inovev.
A new Fiesta-based small SUV and a replacement for the Kuga compact SUV are also set to be unveiled in the next 12 months as part of Ford’s plan to concentrate of its more resources on SUVs in Europe.
Ford’s second-generation Kuga, badged as the Escape in the U.S., has been spotted testing near Detroit ahead of its unveiling later this year. The car is expected to go sale in the U.S. in the second half. Ford has not said when the new Kuga will go on sale. The SUV was launched in 2008. Ford builds the Kuga in Valencia, Spain.
Ford said it had sold a record number of SUVs in 2018 in Europe, surpassing 250,000 for the first time and accounting for a fifth of its vehicle sales.
The automaker last year singled out the Kuga as the only Europe-built passenger vehicle that made a profit for its European division in the second quarter of 2018. Ford’s vans were also profitable, it said.