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Motrolix

Ford To Continue Kuga-Escape Name Dichotomy Across Global Markets With All New Compact CUV?

For almost the last decade, Ford has offered two totally different compact CUVs in different parts of the world: drivers in North America (as well as Oceania) got the Escape while their counterparts in Europe were presented with the Kuga. This will soon change — thanks to Ford’s lucrative One Ford plan, which calls for the Escape and Kuga to become a single global vehicle for the next-generation of both crossovers. However, it appears that The Blue Oval will continue to sell the single global replacement for the Escape and Kuga under two different nameplates worldwide.

“With the first of the 15 new vehicles being the all-new Ford Focus, we are also announcing today that the next-generation Ford Kuga will be built here in China,” said president of Ford Asia Pacific and Africa Joe Hinrichs at the 2011 Shanghai Auto Show last week.

The Motrolix Take

When Ford unveiled the concept version of the vehicle that will replace the Kuga and Escape globally, it was widely speculated that The Blue Oval would begin using a single name for the crossover and drop either one or both current names entirely. As it stands at the time of this writing, The Blue Oval hasn’t officially confirmed that it would continue to use the Escape name in North America or the Kuga moniker elsewhere in the world; but seeing Hinrichs describe the “next-generation Kuga” to a market that has never heard of the Kuga leads this humble blogger to believe that the Kuga name is here to stay. I guess we’ll find out soon enough!

Motrolix Founder with a passion for global automotive business strategy.

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