Canadian Mustang Owners Club - Ford Mustang Forums - Ford Continues Strip Tease On New Explorer

Ford is peeling the wrapper off the new 2011 Explorer slowly, piece by piece as we lead up to the big reveal later this year. To be based on the same unit body platform as the Taurus and Flex, the new Explorer has already a image mountain to climb. That is to convince everyone it is still a capable SUV and not just another soft roading car with a lift kit.

To wit, Ford has been leaking out little tid bits of information over the last couple months about some of the features and aspects of the all new Explorer SUV that will set it apart from its competition. Snap. Guess what? The news we are hearing is about its off-road and all-road capabilities. We reported earlier on the all new terrain management system.

In the last few weeks they are introducing us to the engineers who have been developing the Explorer, with photos that just tease us with corners and panels of the all new Explorer. In the stories quite interesting about the Ford engineers, we learn more about what is coming with the new SUV.

This week we hear about Jim Holland, Explorer Chief Nameplate Engineer. His previous big project just happened to be developing the new Range Rover. The natural progression of thought is that with the same guy who did the Range Rover on the Explorer, we can expect a lot of the same kind of design, panache and capability. And that is exactly what we are hearing.

The little views and snippets we’ve seen and heard indeed show some Range Rover influence in the styling and packaging. And the new terrain management system is a stone’s throw from that of its English peer. Additionally, the message that the new Ford Explorer will have every bit of the same capability as the truck based SUV it replaces is being hammered home.

When the new Ford Explorer is finally launched we can expect that Ford will be doing its best to tell the story that it can do all that the old one can in towing, off-roading and of course on-roading. With the expected 2.0 liter EcoBoost four cylinder engine standard and a likely 3.5 or 3.7 liter V6 as an option, buyers will get power and efficiency that is well beyond the outgoing Explorer.