Turbo Terror hits Melbourne

Ford has launched its long, long, long awaited Territory Turbo at today's Melbourne Motor Show.

The forced-induction inline six-cylinder SUV has been an open secret for some time, with images of test examples gracing the pages of most Australian car magazines, however, Melbourne was the vehicle's official unveiling.

Mating the turbocharged and intercooled powerplant from the XR6 Turbo with Ford's top-selling Territory five-door wagon, the Territory Turbo will go on sale in July.

Pricing has not been announced, however, Ford has confirmed two versions will be offered -- the Territory Turbo and top-of-the-range, Territory Ghia Turbo. Both will be powered by the 4.0 litre DOHC DIVCT 245kW engine mated with the new ZF-sourced six-speed automatic transmission and AWD running gear. No rear-wheel drive turbo variant will be offered at this time.

"Territory Turbo and Territory Ghia Turbo build on the many fine attributes inherent in the original Territory and then adds additional performance," said Ford Australia President, Tom Gorman.

"Our design engineers had a brief to create a turbo Territory with enhanced performance but not to compromise functionality and versatility," Gorman said.

Gorman told the media he believed the Territory Turbo would delivery incremental sales to the carmaker. He stated that with the Turbo and Ghia Turbo, Ford had addressed two areas customers were looking for -- performance and luxury. Gorman identified off-road ability and a diesel powertrain as areas still to be considered in the Territory model mix.

In reference to the much-asked question re a diesel engine option, he state that the company was still looking at diesel but that there was nothing to announce at this time.

Ford has not publically announced performance details for the Territory Turbo, however, one spokesman described the in-road performance of the car as "stunning." A 0-100km/h time under 7sec is expected.

The signature of the surprisingly understated Territory Turbo looks set to be the bonnet scoop. A functional item, the scoop's apperture feeds cool air to the engine-mounted intercooler. New 18-inch five-spoke alloys feature on both models with the Ghia's machined-faced for a more upmarket look.

Up front there's a new diamond-mesh grille and at the rear dual exhaust differentiate the pairing from cooking-model Territorys.

Inside there's black suede (Turbo) or black leather (Ghia Turbo) seat facings and a classy black/satin chrome themed interior. Instruments and other minor items have been tweaked for the Turbo range.

Body-colour bumpers et al, add the visual appeal of the Turbo twins and three new colours are available on the pairing: Seduce (Red), Neo (Blue) and Ego (Charcoal).

Look out for details on the Territory Turbo twins in the coming weeks at CarPoint... And look out for more Melbourne Show news today, tomorrow and over the weekend at CarPoint and Melbourne Motor Show's official website here.