Ain't No Mountain High Enough

An excellent way to determine if a blinged-up SUV like the Ford Everest Sport can face up to South African gravel roads is to take it on a 4000km cross-country expedition. So that’s what we did.

- Pierre Steyn

Three years ago, the executives at FordMotor Company in Detroit in the US decided that they were done with passenger cars. They tied their future to bakkies – trucks in Yank speak – and SUVs. No more Focus. No more Fiesta. Today, the iconic Ford Mustang is the only “passenger car” you can buy in the States.

Ford South Africa followed the lead, with the company concentrating most of its love and attention on the locally produced Ranger bakkies and Everest SUVs. A R15 billion investment in the local production plant in Silverton, Pretoria, will turn the South African operation into the biggest manufacturer of Rangers in the world. Instead of offering a wide range of passenger cars as in the past, Ford now sells an astounding 35 different versions of the Ranger bakkie locally, and nine derivatives of the Everest SUV.