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Ford reveals the Kuga
By Yoann Besnard on 18 February 2008 | 
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Ford will finally unveil the Kuga crossover at the Geneva Motor Show set to compete with the successful Nissan Qashqai and the new Renault Koleos.
As expected, the production version is very close to the Iosis X concept car shown at Frankfurt last year. The Kuga follows the new corporate design theme with an appealing styling although a bit more conventional than the new Ford Fiesta the company will also reveal at Geneva. On the inside, Ford cut cost by featuring the dashboard from the C-Max minivan and miss an opportunity to keep out of the fray. The production version will pay tribute to the concept car by offering an exclusive Electric White colour. The Kuga will offer trim levels: Trend and Titanium.
The Kuga is based on the C platform shared with almost all Ford vehicles sold on the C segment. It will be available either as a front-wheel drive or a four-wheel drive. The four-wheel drive will feature a full-time Haldex system. However, one does not expect the Kuga to be a serious off-roader as it is road-biased.
At launch, the new crossover will only be available with a diesel engine, the 136bhp 2.0-litre TDCi hooked up to a six-speed manual gearbox.
The Kuga will be built on the same assembly lines as the Focus three-door, five-door and wagon variants and C- MAX at the Saarlouis plant in Germany. It will hit our showrooms in summer of this year.