Here are the first official pictures of Ford’s new Crossover -slash- compact SUV that will make its first public appearance at next week’s Frankfurt Show (Sep.13). To be precise, Ford will launch the Kuga as a “preview-model” in Frankfurt, which practically means take away the glossy 19-inch rims and a few minor details like the red trim in the interior and you’re looking at the production version that’ll go for sale in
Though less dramatic than the Paris Show Iosis-X concept, we’re relieved to see that Ford’s designers didn’t disappoint us with the final product – well, at least by looking at the pictures. Inside, the Kuga’s interior looks like it has been literally lifted off the C-MAX, but we can live with it. Although officials details are scarce (check out Ford’s pre-show media release here), the Kuga is based on the Ford’s C1 platform which underpins cars like the Focus / C-Max, Land Rover Freelander, Mazda3, Volvo S40 and V50. It is expected that the production model will be offered with both front-wheel drive and AWD powertrains. -Continued after the jump
The Kuga’s competitors in Europe will include the Toyota RAV4, the VW Tiguan and the Nissan Qashqai