FORD EXPLORER
Autocar UK|October 23, 2024
Giant of the industry finally wades into the wider EV game
FORD EXPLORER

MODEL TESTED
FORD EXPLORER EXTENDED RANGE PREMIUM RWD
Price £49,975 Power 282bhp Torque 402lb ft 0-60mph 5.8sec 30-70mph 4.8sec Economy 3.4mpkWh CO2 emissions Og/km Max DC charge rate 135kW 70-0mph 46.5m (14deg C, damp/drying)

W elcome to the first real harbinger of modern Ford. The re-imagining of the company as it jerks towards widespread electrification has been swift and, at least in Europe, fairly brutal. The Fiesta, a perennial favourite in the UK, is no longer being built at all, and the final Focus is set to leave the Saarlouis plant in November 2025.

These high-volume, low-margin cars will be replaced by crossovers such as the Puma and the subject of this road test: the new Explorer.

So the mainstream, mass-market family Ford now takes the form of a £40,000-plus electric crossover, and one whose core attributes have been defined not in Dunton or Cologne but in Wolfsburg. Underneath, the Explorer sits on Volkswagen's MEB platform-the tangible result of a technology-sharing deal finalised in 2020 and one that, Ford says, shaved two years off the development time of this latest model. Handy, when you're scrambling to compete in a crowded, growing segment but have been notably slow off the mark in developing a suitable product.

It's perhaps unsurprising that the MEB is therefore a transitional tool for Ford. It makes possible the Explorer and its slope-roofed Capri sibling, but will make way for proprietary Blue Oval hardware thereafter. To us this seems a bold strategy, even if in economic terms Ford has little choice but to go down such a path. The appeal of Ford cars has always been in their balance of affordability and likeability, much of the latter deriving from carefully honed dynamics and a quietly satisfying driving experience, no matter the spec or engine size.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October 23, 2024 من Autocar UK.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October 23, 2024 من Autocar UK.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

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