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According to Bloomberg, certainly. The financial newspaper claims Ford’s European SUV may be built here in the U.S.
<P class=MsoNormal target=”_blank”>Citing anonymous sources within the company, Bloomberg claims the automaker will shift some production of the slinky crossover to its facility in Louisville, Kentucky. The facility will reportedly build the Kuga for both the North American and European markets, helping supplant the German factory where the Kuga is presently manufactured.
<P class=MsoNormal target=”_blank”>Ford won’t confirm Bloomberg’s report, but the company had previously revealed it would retool the Louisville factory in 2011 to build vehicles off the company’s global C-platform. Although vehicles could include the new Grand S-Max or the next-generation Focus, the Kuga is also built from the C-platform architecture.
<P class=MsoNormal target=”_blank”>Bloomberg claims the production shift may occur in October 2011, and that the factory could build as many as 80,000 European-spec units on an annual basis.
<P class=MsoNormal target=”_blank”>Source: Bloomberg
This is not a huge surprise to me. The Kuga is/was a much more stylish model than the Escape. I’m surprised the current Escape has done as well as it has.
“Kuga, The Crossover for Middle aged women who date younger men”.
I’m guessing they will need to rename it something else. Not even a Japanese brand can get away with a name like “Kuga.”
That’s Grand C-Max, there is no Grand S-Max.