(Bloomberg) -- Baby boomers emptying the nest and their adultoffspring starting families are driving demand for sport utilityvehicles, which will account for two in five new auto sales in theU.S. by 2020, according to Ford Motor Co.

Americans will buy a record 5 million SUVs in 2015, fueled bylow gasoline prices, cheap car loans and a desire for high- ridingbig rigs that can haul plenty of people and possessions, accordingto Kevin Schad, brand manager for the Ford Escape. Sales of SUVsand sport wagons are up 16% this year, according to researcherAutodata Corp. And they account for almost a third of auto sales inthe U.S., Schad said.

Ford is giving its top-selling SUV, the compact Escape, afacelift to beef up its styling, quiet the cabin and enhancetechnology offerings in a bid to appeal to both the boomers and themillennial generation. Ford raised the hood and broadened theshoulders to make the Escape look less like a wagon. And itinstalled software that lets drivers unlock, start or locate theirvehicle with a smartphone.

“The two largest cohorts in America are evolving into differentlife stages, which, ironically, require the same vehicle,” Schadsaid in a preview of the new Escape last week. “Millennials areevolving into a life stage where they’re starting to settle downand have families and they need more space in their car. Babyboomers are looking for a vehicle that supports the reality of someof their physical disposition.”

The freshened Ford will be on display at the Los Angeles AutoShow, which opens this week. Other SUVs at the event includeJaguar’s first, called the F-Pace; the Bentley Bentayga; andCadillac’s XT5, which replaces the SRX. Toyota is also refreshingits compact RAV4, including a hybrid to the lineup.

Boomers who pioneered the SUV a quarter century ago “feel morecomfortable on the road” in them because they ride high and areeasier to get into and out of than low-riding sedans, Schad said.Millennials who grew up in the back seat of SUVs see them as thefamily car of the modern age. And now that they are havingchildren, millennials are moving out of small sedans and into SUVs,he said.

New family car

The return of the SUV has caused car sales to plummet. Familysedans like the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord and small cars likethe Ford Focus were considered “the heart of the market” a fewyears ago, Schad said.

“Well, that was thrown out the window when the compact SUVsegment surpassed both of those segments last year to emerge as theNo. 1 segment in the industry,” Schad said. “And we haven’t seenthat growth slow at all this year.”

Ford is looking to capitalize on that growth by offering theEscape with two new fuel-efficient turbocharged engines and a suiteof safety technologies such as forward-collision warning andadaptive cruise control that maintains a set distance from trafficahead.

In a nod to tradition-minded boomers, Ford restored knobcontrols on the dashboard for the radio and climate control system.The automaker has been dinged in quality surveys for switching to abalky dashboard touch screen.

The Escape is the second-best-selling small SUV on the market,behind the Honda CR-V. That is the SUV segment where Ford sees themost growth potential as boomers and millennials increasingly turnto those roomy rides.

“The compact SUV is the epicenter of growth,” Schad said. “Thatsegment has really taken off since the economic downturn andindustry recovery in 2008 and 2009 and doubled sales.”

Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten,or redistributed.