CHICAGO – Ford says it plans to add four all-new SUVs to its global lineup in the next four years, all in gaps in the company’s product portfolio where it doesn’t currently offer a vehicle.
Missing from the Ford lineup are CUVs slotting below the Escape, the planned Bronco midsize CUV due in 2019 and Lincoln counterparts to vehicles such as the Explorer. The company also may need a replacement for the Ford Flex/Lincoln MKT large CUV when it goes out of production later this decade.
Ford’s biggest need is an entry in the hot compact CUV segment that features such models as the Buick Encore, Honda HR-V, Jeep Renegade, Mazda CX-3 and Subaru Crosstrek.
Mark LaNeve, Ford vice president-Marketing, Sales and Service, says the Dearborn automaker’s decision is based on the expectation that SUV sales will continue to grow in the U.S. and worldwide.
In a speech planned for today at the Chicago Auto Show, LaNeve will cite Ford research that shows millennials thinking about starting a family significantly increase their consideration of buying an SUV, while aging baby boomers also favor SUVs for easy ingress and egress and higher ride height.
“As members of the 80-million-strong millennial age group enter their prime child-rearing years, a leading indicator of more SUV sales, nearly 80 million aging baby boomers continue to prefer their SUVs,” LaNeve says. “It’s a demographic double whammy and it all points to one thing – more SUVs for the foreseeable future.”
