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The fifth member of the new Focus family — the estate — has been unveiled at the Geneva show, and Ford has revealed that the globalisation of its models will extend to a single Focus-based SUV for Europe and North America.

The new estate is predicted to account for around a third of all Focus sales in Europe. Initially it will only be available in this region, but Ford of Europe boss John Fleming has stated that it could follow the rest of the Focus range and go global.

See the Ford Focus estate pictures

“As with all of the models in our new global C-platform portfolio, there is scope to offer… this estate in markets around the world,” he said.

The Focus will also be used as the basis for the next Kuga (the current model uses a modified Focus platform). The new Kuga will be another global car, replacing the North America-only Escape SUV too.

Fleming also confirmed that there will be a performance version of the new Focus. “We want to reassure performance car enthusiasts that we won’t forget them,” he said, “so we are making the commitment to deliver a future performance model of the new Focus for them, also on a global basis.” It’s still unclear if this means replacements for both the Focus ST and RS — but the hot car will be launched by the end of 2012.

That brings the confirmed number of models based on the Focus platform to nine; there is a 10th to come. Ford has yet to confirm the model type, but it’s expected to be a three-door coupé that could form the basis of the performance Focus.

Dan Stevens

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