This Ford sounds familiar to you and will return to Europe in 2025 as a low-cost hybrid SUV to stand up to the Dacia Duster

In 2013, the first urban SUVs arrived on the European market or segment B. The first was the Renault Captur and, a few months later, it was Peugeot that launched the first generation of 2008.

Ford did not want to be left out of that – at that time – market niche and decided to bring a small SUV to Europe which had just been developed and launched for the Brazilian market: the Ford EcoSport.

The first Ford EcoSport: a move that went wrong for the oval brand

This action did not go very well for the American company since the EcoSport was designed for emerging markets such as Brazil and It did not have the refinement or the quality of finishes that European customers demanded.

As a result, its sales were poor -even after restyling suffered in 2017- and, In 2019, Ford withdrew it from the marketreplacing it with the Puma, which has been a much more commercially successful model.

But he wants to repeat, correcting the mistakes of the past.

Now, things have changed. And although Ford will continue betting everything on the Ford Puma -even more so when the electric version of this SUV is expected to hit the market at the beginning of 2025-, the leaders of the American brand believe that The EcoSport can solve a good problem for them in Europe: the increasingly important ssegment of low-cost cars.

In that segment, Dacia has positioned itself as the new leader with the recently launched Dacia Duster. But brands like MG, Fiat – with the next Grande Panda – or Citroën – with the new C3 Aircross – want to gain registrations from the Renault Group manufacturer.

Ford wants it too. And, if next year it will launch a new generation of the Ford EcoSport in Brazil, wants repeat the move he already made in 2014 and bring it to Europe as a low-cost model and located below the Puma. This is stated by several European media, including L´Auto-Journal.

Even so, and to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, The new EcoSport will now have a size more in line with European tastes -it will go from 4.0 meters to around 4.3 meters long- and a more refined design and finishesso that it can be sold successfully in Europe and even other markets outside of Latin America.

And since Ford wants to position this car as a low-cost option and below the sportier Ford Puma, The new EcoSport should arrive in Europe with hybrid and micro-hybridized mechanics based on the brand’s current 1.0 EcoBoost block, but without offering any electric variant: those would remain reserved for the Puma.