Ford will return the Puma name to its range this year, and the Ford Fiesta-based crossover is now confirmed for a reveal in the coming days.
The sportier, more style-oriented sibling to the Ford Ecosport will target the upcoming Nissan Juke, Peugeot 2008 and Mazda CX-3 when it goes on sale in the next few months.
The new car, which has previously been spied testing in camouflage, will take the name of the two-door coupé the firm produced between 1997 and 2002 - also built on a Fiesta platform.
At first the new model was believed to be a replacement for the Ford Ecosport, but we now know it will sit alongside that car as an alternative led on style and driver appeal. The Puma’s design can be seen in part in Ford’s teaser image of the car, showing its front and side profile will be significantly different to the Ecosport and has more in common with the latest Fiesta and Ford Focus.
Opinion: Ford Puma - what's in a name?
Expect an interior that’s similar to the Fiesta and Focus, too, with the brand’s dashtop-mounted SYNC touchscreen infotainment system and much of the same switchgear. It will also offer a bigger boot, with 456 litres of ‘uncompromised’ luggage capacity. Ford will balance an SUV-like higher seating position with the desire to retain the Fiesta’s driver focus.
Ford has also revealed that the new Puma will be offered with a 153bhp mild-hybrid powertrain, featuring a 1.0-litre Ecoboost three-cylinder turbo petrol engine mated a 48V belt-driven starter motor generator. Expect lesser versions of the same engines without mild-hybrid tech alongside a diesel option, too.
Stuart Rowley, Ford’s European boss, said the new Puma would “really resonate with compact car customers in Europe” through “progressive and evocative styling”.
Ford has yet to give any further technical details of the car, which will be built at its Craiova plant in Romania. It will sit alongside the existing Ecosport in its compact SUV range, and is part of Ford’s major European overhaul to focus on more profitable market segments.
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PUMA is too low for an SUV
An SUV must have: (1) good overall volume; (2) good specific power [HP / kg total mass]; (3) good minimum point height from ground [Ecosport = 20 ~ 22 cm]. It was expected PUMA = 25 cm in relation to the ground.
Heart sank when I realised its an SUV
How did we get here?
What a shocking insult to
What a shocking insult to what was a very fine driver's car 20 years ago.
A 'sport small SUV' indeed. As if such a thing was remotely possible.