Imported Territory replacement confirmed
But we don't know yet if the Territory name is staying or goingFord’s Australian-developed and built Territory will be replaced by an imported seven-seat SUV after the Blue Oval ceases local manufacturing no later than 2016.
But Ford has yet to decide if the Territory name will live on, or if the import will wear its global name.
The Territory’s replacement will be replaced by either the Edge or Explorer SUVs, or a model created from a mooted merger of the two into a single light-duty front/all-wheel wagon based on Ford’s Mondeo-derived CD4 architecture.
The ongoing role of a large SUV was emphasised at Ford’s Go Further dealer, customer, public and media event at Fox Studios in Sydney yesterday, where global Chief Operating Officer Mark Fields presented the Territory and it was featured in a montage of Ford’s ongoing model line-up.
By contrast, the current Falcon wasn’t presented during the event and didn’t feature in the montage, although the 2014 Falcon freshening was previewed briefly in a video.
But with large car sales continuing to fall, that is the last of the Falcon line and there is no plan for an imported replacement when it dies.
However, with SUV sales booming globally and in Australia, the logic of a replacement for the Territory is irrefutable.
It will sit in a four-model range that includes the recently launched Kuga compact, the small EcoSport that goes on sale in December, and the T6 Ranger-based Everest seven-seat four-wheel drive that was previewed at Go Further in concept form yesterday.
“We heard today that we are committed to the Territory size for that market and we will have more to share on that going forward,” global boss Alan Mulally told media on the sidelines of the event.
“SUVs are now 25 per cent of the (Australian) market and that is going to grow another three or four per cent and this line-up of SUVs is the finest in the world, from the EcoSport, to the Kuga, to the Territory and now the Everest.”
The next-generation Edge is due in 2015 and has been confirmed for right-hand drive markets.
Before its demise the Territory will go through a 2014 ‘freshening’ alongside the Falcon. The update will be limited to some graphic changes and a push to improve fuel economy. Unlike the 2014 Falcon, it will not include new sheetmetal because the current SZ Territory is a newer car released in 2011.
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