Ford Verve

It’s official – Ford’s Verve SUV is on the way. Auto Express first broke the news of the blue oval’s plans to build an all-road version of its next-generation Fiesta.

And now it has been officially confirmed that the car will make an appearance in concept form at the Detroit Motor Show in January – although not by Ford itself.

Organisers of the exhibition have released a newsletter which provides details of the new models which will be making their debuts. It states: “Ford will reveal a small concept vehicle for the US market that will share the underbody with a concept which was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in Sep­tember.” That model was the Verve, and it seems like the obvious basis for an SUV-inspired show car.

The new off-road-biased model will share its underpinnings with the next Fiesta, which in turn is based on the same platform as the latest Mazda 2 supermini.

The SUV will have small-capacityturbocharged units giving strong performance plus decent economy and emissions. Early indications are that the Fiesta off-roader could go on sale early in 2009.