Ford Puma ST gets TEASED – and previews a Puma with bigger claws

A Ford Puma ST – which we expect to be a Ford Fiesta ST on stilts – is teased ahead of a debut later in 2020 as the Puma range grows.

For has pretty much given up on saloon cars and people carriers, and is focussing on SUVs, electric cars, ‘Mustangs’ and hatches to deliver profits in the UK and Europe. All of which could apply to the Mustang Mach-E.

But despite the love the great car buying public has for high-riding cars, Ford’s Fiesta is still its best-seller in the UK. So what better way to cash-in on that than by delivering a high-riding, SUV take on the Fiesta? Which is exactly what Ford has done, successfully too, with the new Ford Puma, no longer a little coupe but now an appealing compact SUV/Crossover.

Having launched the Puma, Ford is now in the process of delivering a hot (well, quite warm) Puma, taking, we assume, most of what underpins the very appealing Fiesta ST and applying it to the Puma to deliver a Puma ST.

As you’d expect, that process starts publicly with a tease photo (above) where Ford has run an image of the Puma ST through a mix of Photoshop filters to deliver a colourful image that allows the basics to shine through but obscures the detail.

In fact, that’s about all Ford is prepared to deliver at the moment, but it’s not stretch to expect it to be powered by the same 1.5 litre three-pot petrol as the Fiesta ST, which means 197bhp and 214lb/ft of torque and a hustle to 62mph in around 7.0 seconds.

Aimed right at the Hyundai Kona N, the Ford Puma ST could be a very appealing buy when it arrives later this year. Expect more detail to follow ahead of a debut later in the year.