Ford of Europe expects its new Kuga medium SUV to be a sell out.

CEO John Fleming said demand for the Kuga could outstrip supply. "We´ve got a good chance of achieving that," Fleming told Automotive News Europe in an interview.

Fleming´s confidence comes in part from the Kuga´s bold design. The car´s styling is the latest expression of the carmaker´s kinetic design language, which also appears on the S-MAX minivan/SUV crossover and on the new Mondeo upper-medium model.

"Experience over the last few years has said that if you get the design right, you get the basics right," Fleming said.

Ford is a late entrant into Europe´s growing medium SUV segment. Toyota's RAV4 currently has about 22 percent share of the market, according to JATO Dynamics. The RAV4 sold 108,466 units last year – an increase of 15.9 percent from 2005.

Fleming said Ford's late arrival into the medium SUV market was because the company previously focused on its core business.

"Why did we come late? We started from a situation in 2000 when we were losing over a billion dollars a year. There are priorities in any business. Our priority was first to get the core products right," he said.

Ford of Europe has made a $262 million dollar pre-tax profit in the second quarter.

The Kuga shares the same platform as the Focus lower-medium car. It will be built in Ford's Saarlouis plant in Germany and goes on sale starting June.

Ford declined to disclose production or sales forecasts for the Kuga. Kuga prices will be announced closer to the launch date next year.

You may e-mail James Franey at jfraney@craincom.de