FORD has brought its newest, smallest SUV to the Australian market to take advantage of burgeoning demand for urban small SUVs in a segment that has grown faster than any other over the past two years.

The Brazilian-designed, Indian-built, Fiesta-based EcoSport sits below the mid-sized Kuga in Ford’s SUV line-up that also includes the locally made – and doomed by 2016 – Territory (which most likely will be replaced by the new Ford Edge from the United States).

The front-wheel-drive EcoSport goes into bat against the likes of Holden’s Trax, Nissan’s Juke and a dozen or so others, armed with a choice of two petrol engines – including the Blue Oval’s award-winning 1.0-litre EcoBoost three-cylinder – and sharp pricing.

Offered only in front-wheel drive and without a diesel alternative, the all-petrol EcoSport boasts high equipment levels that include Ford’s Microsoft-developed Sync connectivity with an automatic emergency services call system as standard across the range.

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