Ford Kuga review (27/02/2014)

IT IS all Nissan’s fault. They are solely to blame for the modern automotive phenomenon that is the compact SUV.

Going, it has to be said, on something of a wing and a prayer, the Japanese manufacturing giant decided to damn convention and not replace its well-established and very successful Primera family/ repmobile saloon with another predictable three-box variant on the well-worn theme.

Instead the company decided to take a massive punt on replacing the Primera with a sort of faux Jeepy thing, a cod soft-roader whose inspiration was based on the Matra Simca Rancho. The French machine of the late 1970’s was a rugged enough looking thing, but simple underneath the skin with front wheel drive motivation aimed at suburbanites who wanted something a little different from the norm. Nissan came up with the almost unpronounceable and almost unspellable Qashqai — named, believe it or not, after a semi-nomadic tribe who are based in mountainous south-west Iran — which, as sales and popularity began to mount after it debuted in 2006, was quickly renamed the ‘Qash-cow’ by other manufacturers, who were both madly jealous and horribly envious of Nissan’s inexplicable bravery and sudden profitability.