New Ford Kuga Facelift Spied

[Nairrk]

The current third-generation Kuga has only been on sale since early 2020, but even in that short time rivals such as the Volkswagen Tiguan and SEAT Ateca have benefitted from facelifts, taking some shine off the Kuga’s showroom appeal. Yet as new spy shots show, the rugged Ford is ready to reclaim its place at top the family SUV sector.

At the front are some design cues taken from the new Focus, with slimmer headlights and a new grille featuring the Ford badge, which has been relocated from the nose. At the rear us a new tail light design, but the twin exhausts and rear spoiler remain largely unchanged.

In terms of powertrains, it's likely that the new car will retain the current model’s line-up, which means the option of a 148bhp 1.5-litre petrol with a six-speed manual, 222bhp plug-in hybrid or 187bhp mild-hybrid - the latter getting a CVT automatic transmissions. Ford canned the diesel engine from the Kuga range late last year.

Last year’s facelifted Focus received updates to the infotainment, and we’re likely to see the same st-up appearing on the new Kuga. That means the latest version of Ford’s SYNC 4 infotainment system, featuring a 13.2-inch central touchscreen.

There’s no word on pricing yet, but the current model starts from just under £28,000 so expect similar for the facelifted Kuga.
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[Nairrk]

New Ford Kuga facelift spotted ahead of 2023 launch

Ford is revamping its range, with the Fiesta and Focus receiving recent mid-life revisions, it's now the turn of the Kuga. The third-generation Kuga has been with us since 2019 and these images show us what the upcoming facelifted model will look like.

Straight away we can see the new Kuga will adhere closely to the design language of the new Fiesta and Focus with a larger Ford badge in the middle of a similarly-shaped grille. The whole of the front bumper has been redesigned as well with new side air intakes underneath the headlights. The headlights themselves are a new shape and there’s an additional central light bar above the grille.

The side of the facelifted Kuga looks unchanged from the current model. This spec features body-coloured sills and wing mirrors as well as blacked out window trim.

The rear doesn’t get the kind of comprehensive update seen at the front end, the light clusters retain the same shape with a different internal design. There’s also a new tailgate handle, although that could just be for this North American version of the car.

We expect the new Kuga to get an update inside too. The latest version of Ford SYNC4 infotainment should appear, operated via a new 13.2-inch central touchscreen. The 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster will probably remain.

The engine line up isn’t likely to change so powering the new Kuga will be a 148bhp 1.5-litre petrol, a 187bhp 2.5-litre petrol hybrid and a 222bhp 2.5-litre plug-in hybrid petrol.

While these spy shots show a completely uncovered car, we’re yet to see the facelifted Kuga testing in Europe so we don’t expect a full reveal until later this year. Pricing for the new Kuga should start slightly higher than the current car’s £28,755 starting price tag.

Autoexpress