SPY PICS: Ford Everest busted testing again

We brought you the first spy shots of Ford’s all-new Australian-engineered Everest seven-seat SUV undergoing development testing last month and now our spies have captured a different prototype in Victoria’s high country.

No much fresh information can be gleaned from rear-end image of this red pre-production mule, which like the white vehicle we shot near Ford’s You Yangs proving ground in early September, incorporates the front-end of its Ford Ranger ute donor vehicle and, from the B-pillar rearward, the rear-end of Ford’s homegrown Territory.

However, as evidenced by a narrow section of bodyshell inserted in line with the rear axle, the seven-seat Everest should offer at least 100mm of extra legroom than the Territory behind the front seats, making it roomier for both middle- and third-row passengers.

Ford revealed a concept version of the Everest in August, when it confirmed the all-new off-road SUV was being developed by the same Australian design and engineering team that created the Ranger upon which it’s based.

Likely to be built alongside the Ranger in Thailand, the Everest is expected to be sold in Australia for the first time by 2015, by which time Ford Australia’s SUV stable will include the Australia’s only locally built SUV, the venerable Territory, the existing Kuga mid-sizer and the small EcoSport (due here in December).

Ford says it is committed to delivering facelifted Falcon and Territory models by the end of next year, but has admitted that won’t happen if sales continue to decline, potentially ending local Ford production even earlier than the company’s previously announced date of October 2016.

As we’ve reported, Ford is considering applying the well-regarded Territory nameplate to a replacement imported SUV. That model could be the next-generation Edge, which is based on next year’s fourth-generation Mondeo and due for a global debut at the Los Angeles motor show next month.

Whatever the future for Territory, the Everest will be positioned alongside it as a more rugged, full-chassis off-roader to compete directly with top-selling SUVs like the Toyota Prado, priced from about $50,000.

Expect the Everest to come with the same 3.2-litre five-cylinder (and possibly 2.2-litre four-cylinder) turbo-diesel engines as the Ranger (and its mechanical twin, the Mazda BT-50), as well as its six-speed manual and automatic transmissions.

Although it remains shrouded by a curtain of broom-like bristles on this prototype, there will also be a new coil-sprung rear suspension system that eschews the leaf springs – but not the live axle – of the Ranger, plus the Ranger’s generous ground clearance and low-range gearing.

Our previous spy pics also showed that, unlike the Ranger, the Everest will have an integrated tow bar that is mounted higher and therefore less prone to dragging off-road.

Also spotted on one of the 14 or so Everest prototypes currently racking up test miles in the harshest conditions Victoria and South Australia have to offer is a terrain selector dial, suggesting the Everest will come with a Range Rover-style drive mode system that adjusts engine, transmission, traction control and perhaps suspension performance to suit prevailing conditions.

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