From 2008 onwards, Ford finally found the accelerator pedal in the Chinese market, it may have had some unusual policy ideas, such as neglecting to introduce a 1.6L Focus during the massive sub 1.6L displacement car boom from 2008-2010, but the company is moving to understand the Chinese consumer. Previous Ford models launched in China were European transplants mixed with the odd American organ, some of these freshly transplanted organs sold in strong numbers, like the Fiesta, Mondeo and Focus, others such as the S-Max, Maverick (Escape) and Edge seemed to cling to life.

Ford are revitalizing their China plan, “15 new cars in China by 2015″ has been sent through many press releases, Ford are actually moving on it: first it was the refreshed Focus sold alongside the last generation of Focus, with combined sales the Focuses (or Foci?) became the best selling cars in China overnight, the next step is the Kuga. The Kuga launched yesterday with a 1.6T and a 2.0T engine options spread over a 190,000RMB to 280,000RMB price range. Both 1.6T and 2.0T models come with the option of AWD and FWD, which puts it squarely into the fight against VW’s Tiguan and Honda CRV, both of which are highly popular in the Chinese market.

In the Chinese market, the VW is popular owing to its turbo power whilst the CRV is preferred for its size – the Kuga manages to mix both of them together. Over the next 12 months we can expect the Kuga to shoot up the SUV sales chart and help Ford assert itself as one of the major players in China.