Ford brought the Puma nameplate back as a small SUV and it became Europe's best-seller

Ford retired the Puma after its 1990s coupe run, but in 2019 it revived the nameplate on a compact crossover built on the Fiesta platform. It was a deliberate trade: the small hatchback market was shrinking while SUVs were growing, and Ford needed a new volume car for Europe.

The bet paid off quickly. In 2023, the year Fiesta production ended, the Puma became the UK's best-selling new car with 49,591 registrations, dethroning the Nissan Qashqai; in 2024 it added 48,340 and took the top spot again, and by 2025 two in five new Fords delivered in Britain were Pumas.

In May 2026 Ford Otosan's Craiova plant rolled the one-millionth Puma off the line. Ford called the model its best-selling passenger car in Europe and noted it retained the UK's No. 1 spot through the first four months of 2026, with an electric Gen-E version now leading its segment in Romania.

The Puma became Ford's best-selling car in Europe and the UK's top seller three years running (49,591 registrations in 2023), hitting one million built by May 2026.

The nameplate carried instant recognition from the 1990s coupe.

The crossover body matched where European demand was heading.

It replaced the Fiesta as Ford's UK volume car just in time.

Craiova production scaled it to one million units in six and a half years.

A dormant nameplate can carry a new product if the new product fits the market: Ford kept the badge, changed the body style, and rode the small-SUV wave instead of forcing the old coupe.

The Puma became the anchor of Ford's European small-car lineup: hybrid and all-electric Gen-E versions kept it at the top of UK sales for three consecutive years, and it was still the UK's best-selling car in early 2026. Ford presented the one-millionth unit, an electric Puma Gen-E ordered by a UK customer, as proof the revived nameplate had become a full product family rather than a nostalgia play.