Ford Motor Co. will next year create a fifth business unit that encompasses its operations in the Middle East and Africa.

The Dearborn automaker, which Tuesday will announce plans to launch 17 new or refreshed Ford and Lincoln brand vehicles in those regions during the next two years, is making a strong push to increase its market share in many of the world’s smaller auto markets.

“The Middle East and Africa is poised to become one of the next big automotive growth markets and we want to be there for these customers with great new cars and trucks,” said Stephen Odell, Ford’s president of Europe, Middle East and Africa operations, in prepared remarks at the Dubai International Motor Show.

Ford on Monday didn’t disclose profit or loss forecasts for the region, but said it expects to begin reporting financial results for the business unit — based in Dubai — at the end of 2014’s first quarter.

Jim Benintende, a 36-year Ford veteran, will oversee operations in 47 markets.

Sales in the emerging Middle East countries and in North Africa could grow from about 3.7 million in 2012 to nearly 7 million by 2020, according to a report from the Boston Consulting Group.

Those countries with the largest projected sales increases include Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Iran, though the latter likely won’t play into U.S. automaker plans because of ongoing political tension.

Ford presently sells about 200,000 vehicles annually in the Middle East and Africa and has a market share of about 5 percent. About half of that volume comes from the Middle East and about 60,000 sales come from the country of South Africa.

Ford and Lincoln sales in the Middle East have already grown by 60 percent in the past four years, and Ford expects total industry sales in the Middle East and Africa to climb another 40 percent by 2020.