Ford has responded to the growing popularity of sports-utility vehicles and crossovers, announcing Thursday that it will debut four new SUVs over the next four years.
The move was revealed at the 2016 Chicago Auto Show, and the Detroit-based automaker has yet to reveal when or where it will add the new nameplates, which means that it could launch the vehicles could launch under its mainstream or Lincoln brand, according to USA Today.
The company added that it doesn't plan on sacrificing any models for the sake of these four all-new SUVs.
Mark LaNeve, Ford's VP of marketing, sales, and service, said at the auto show that the models will enter segments that the company is currently not involved in, Car and Driver reported.
The announcement comes at a time when people who are looking for smaller mid-size cars and the percentage of passenger cars is going down. SUVs and crossovers are become quite popular among baby boomers and millennials due to the amount of space they provide and their superior fuel economy over older SUVs.
Ford's research claims that baby boomers are finding these vehicles useful as they raise families, while millennials tend to get their driver's licenses, as well as go to college and get married, later than previous generations and prefer SUVs once they get to picking a car, USA Today reported.
Lower gas prices have also played a role in SUVs' growing favorability, as Ford and other automakers have spent the last decade improving engine and other technologies to make these vehicles sufficiently fuel-efficient so they can compete with smaller cars, Business Insider noted.
Ford also said at the auto show that it has global ambitions for the SUVs, which means that they could launch in North America, Europe, South America, or Asia or in all of those areas.
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