Ford has said future vehicles such as the new crossover will be spacious and inspired by past rallying glory, with sporty designs and high performance capability. “You’re going to see a very focused passenger vehicle portfolio based around rally-bred, adventure and thrill territory,” said Baumbick.
How differentiated will the new family crossover be from its Geely cousins, Auto Express asked Baumbick? “Make no mistake, the Ford product will have a completely unique top hat [body]. This is not a reskin. We don’t do boring cars. This is a uniquely engineered, truly unmistakably Ford product that will be differentiated from Geely’s product and their target customers.”
Partnering with Geely and pooling component sourcing will help Ford deliver new cars at a lower price for consumers. “The reason we’re co-developing is to leverage scale,” explained Baumbick. “What we’re trying to do is ensure that we can actually demonstrate the lowest possible cost while building products specifically for European customers in Europe.”
The Valencia plant currently assembles the Kuga, which is set to continue in production potentially to 2028. But Ford is acutely sensitive to the power of bringing back beloved nameplates – think of how the Puma coupe’s name was revived for the UK’s best-selling small SUV in 2019 – so it’s highly likely the Kuga name will be carried over to the new C-segment crossover.
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