The cars and SUVs that Ford should sell in Australia

Just under 90 per cent of all new Fords sold in Australia in 2024 were Rangers or Everests.

The Ranger was Australia’s best-selling model bar none, and the Everest came in sixth and beat all its large SUV rivals.

Given Ford overtook Mazda to become the number two brand in Australia last year, it’s arguably clear it doesn’t need a vast portfolio of models to be successful, so long as these two locally developed large vehicles continue to be hot property.

In recent years, Ford has shrunk its local lineup, leaving it heavily dependent on the Ranger and Everest and consisting predominantly of light commercial vehicles.

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But Ford has a bevy of US, German and even Chinese models in its global portfolio which would help fill some major gaps in its local range.

Alas, many of the vehicles listed below aren’t built in right-hand drive. But let’s imagine they are, and let’s look at how they’d slot into the Blue Oval’s local lineup.

It’s a similar thought exercise to another we did recently, when we looked at which cars Holden could offer if it still existed.

For this instalment, we’ll look at Ford cars and crossovers; in the next, we’ll examine off-roaders and utes/pickups.

Light/small SUVs

In axing the Puma small SUV last year, Ford Australia killed its most affordable model (having previously axed the Fiesta and Focus). This meant the cost of entry into a new Ford SUV or car shot up by more than $20,000.

Ford Australia said it discontinued the Puma after around four years on sale to focus on commercial vehicles, as well as Mustang-badged models.

But in doing so, it killed off a vehicle that could have been the first new Ford for an entirely new set of buyers, who could have potentially upgraded to larger, more profitable models down the line.

Not only that, but Ford Australia put the Puma down just as an updated version was being revealed for Europe.

This brought a redesigned grille and headlights, the latter with available matrix LED technology, plus improved adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert systems.

Inside, there’s an overhauled dashboard with a 12.8-inch digital instrument cluster and a 12.0-inch infotainment touchscreen running Ford’s latest Sync 4 operating system.

The new Puma sticks with a turbocharged 1.0-litre three-pot petrolengine, in either 92kW/170Nm or 116kW/190Nm tunes. Sadly, the 147kW 1.5-litre turbo triple and six-speed manual combo offered in the European ST was axed.

Several months after officially pulling the plug on the Puma in Australia, Ford Australia also announced it wouldn’t bring the new electric Puma Gen-E – despite having previously confirmed this model for our market.

While it looks much the same as the updated petrol Puma inside and out, it’s powered by a 124kW/290Nm front-mounted electric motor fed by a 43kWh battery pack, giving the Gen-E WLTP range of up to 376km and DC fast-charging at up to 100kW.

The electric kitty also has more storage space than the model it replaces, not only in the boot but also under the bonnet.

The Gen-E would have had an uphill battle in Australia given the sheer volume of affordable Chinese EVs sold here, but it’s genuinely a shame it didn’t come here.

Mid-sized SUVs

It’s remarkable that Ford, as of last year, no longer offers a combustion-powered mid-sized SUV in Australia when it has so many available globally, and when it’s this nation’s single most popular new vehicle type.

A simple option would be to just bring the Equator Sport here. It’s already on sale in one right-hand drive market, South Africa, where it’s known as the Territory.

Don’t think because of that name that this is some authentic true-Blue Oval product, like the Falcon-based Territory that was developed and built here before Ford ceased locally manufacturing in 2016.

Instead, the Territory/Equator Sport is a product from Ford’s joint venture with Jiangling Motors and, while it wears styling that fits with the rest of the Blue Oval lineup, there are telltale signs this isn’t a “real” Ford.

That includes the absence of an infotainment system from Ford’s SYNC family. The specifications also scream ‘Chinese SUV’, from the small-displacement turbocharged engine through to the dual-clutch automatic transmission.

In South Africa, where it was launched in 2024 in pre-facelift guise, the only engine is a 138kW/318Nm turbocharged 1.8-litre petrol four mated with a seven-speed dual-clutch auto, making it good for claimed fuel consumption of 7.0L/100km on the NEDC cycle.

In China, however, a facelift brought a front-wheel drive plug-in hybrid powertrain that mates a 160kW/315Nm electric motor with a 110kW/240Nm 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine and an 18.4kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery. Claimed electric range is 95km on the WLTC cycle.

Sized similarly to the Escape, the Equator Sport features MacPherson strut front and multi-link rear suspension, and is available exclusively with front-wheel drive.

Then there’s the Bronco Sport, a Mexican-built mid-sized crossover with the tough looks of the Bronco off-roader but the platform of the road-focused Escape.

It’s more rugged than most mid-sized crossovers, and depending on the variant is available with a unique off-road suspension tune, a different four-wheel drive system with a twin-clutch rear drive unit,locking rear differential, metal bash plates, a couple of extra terrain modes (for seven in total), front tow hooks, and all-terrain tyres.

So equipped, you get a wading depth of around 600mm and ground clearance of 223mm. There’s also Ford Trail Control, which is like an off-road adaptive cruise control system.

The Bronco Sport is offered with either a 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbo-petrol engine outputting 132kW and 271Nm, or a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four with 175kW/375Nm. Both engines are mated with an eight-speed automatic transmission.

Something the Bronco Sport doesn’t offer, however, is a choice of a hybrid or plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrain.

[Re-] enter the Escape PHEV. This mid-sized wagon has been offered here before with a PHEV powertrain, though unusually Ford Australia never sold it as a hybrid despite this configuration being offered in Europe, from where our Escapes were sourced.

The Escape (or Kuga, as it’s known in Europe) was revealed in facelifted guise in 2022, bringing sharper front-end styling, enhanced safety tech, and larger digital instrument cluster and infotainment touchscreens (12.3 and 13.2 inches, respectively).

As before, the hybrid and PHEV options feature a 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine and an electronic continuously variable transmission.

The hybrid is available with either front- or all-wheel drive and has a total system output of between 132kW and 143kW, while using between 5.3L/100km and 6.4L/100km on the WLTP cycle.

The front-wheel drive-only PHEV can run on pure electric power for around 60-69km of electric-only range on the WLTP test cycle thanks to its larger 14.4kWh battery pack.

Sure, the Escape PHEV didn’t tear up the sales charts here, but surely a regular hybrid would give Ford Australia something to battle the growing ranks of popular mid-sized hybrid SUVs here, including the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid – the country’s most popular SUV and, for the first time, Toyota Australia’s top-selling model in 2024.

Ford’s mid-sized Mustang Mach-E isn’t tearing up the sales charts either, and it’s unclear if the cute, chunky Explorer EV would be any more successful.

The confusingly named electric vehicle (EV) is considerably smaller than the real Explorer – it’s even shorter than the Escape – and underneath it uses the Volkswagen Group’s dedicated-EV architecture, MEB.

It differs from its Volkswagen cousins with chunky, purposeful styling and unique suspension tuning, but still offers a choice of single-motor rear-wheel drive or dual-motor all-wheel drive powertrains.

There’s also a coupe SUV relation, the Capri, which enraged legions of fans of the European coupe that once wore this nameplate.

Large SUVs

Ford Australia already has a three-row SUV in the Everest, but this is a rugged, ute-based ladder-frame model. It gives the Blue Oval a rival to the likes of the Toyota Prado and Isuzu MU-X, but not a direct rival to seven-seat crossover wagons such as the Toyota Kluger, like the Territory once was.

When it was last sold Down Under in 2006, the Explorer was a traditional body-on-frame SUV like today’s Everest, which shares its Australian-engineered T6.2 chassis with the Ranger. For the past two generations, however, it has been a unibody crossover.

The American Explorer – a completely different vehicle to the European Explorer EV – would therefore complement the Everest, much like Toyota’s Kluger complements its Prado.

The current generation entered production in 2019, debuting a new rear/all-wheel drive platform that thus far has been used only for it and the fancier Lincoln Aviator.

During its run, it has been offered with turbocharged four-cylinder and twin-turbo V6 petrol engines, plus V6 hybrid and twin-turbo V6 plug-in hybrid powertrains.

It’s produced not only in the US but also in China, which receives slightly different exterior styling plus a markedly different interior with three available screens instead of ‘just’ two. Chinese Explorers also come only with the 213kW/445Nm 2.3-litre turbo-petrol four, mated with a 10-speed auto.

US-market Platinum and hot ST variants get a twin-turbo 3.0-litre petrol V6 offering 298kW/563Nm, mated with a 10-speed auto – Territory Turbo or FPV F6X successor, anyone? You can even get this high-output engine with either rear- or all-wheel drive, with the ST gaining a unique, sportier suspension tune.

It’s not the only three-row SUV that Ford produces in China. Through the Changan Ford joint venture, the Blue Oval has also manufactured the Edge L since 2023.

Like the Explorer, it measures around 5m long on a circa-3m wheelbase. Using a version of the platform underpinning the Escape and Bronco Sport, the Edge L is a replacement of sorts for the previous, five-seat Edge that was sold in Australia as the Endura.

Unlike that model, it offers hybrid power. The standard engine is a 2.0-litre turbo four producing 185kW/378Nm and mated with an eight-speed automatic; this is complemented by a 2.0-litre turbo four hybrid system pushing out 202kW and 405Nm, mated with an e-CVT. Both are offered with front- or all-wheel drive.

A 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster is standard, along with a 13.2-inch touchscreen, with up-spec variants swapping the latter for a huge 27-inch 4K screen. In up-spec grades, you can ditch the standard second-row bench for heated, ventilated and power-adjustable captain’s chairs.

Ford also has the older Equator – not to be confused with the smaller Equator Sport – which is a product of the JMC-Ford joint venture and entered production in 2021. It recently gained the Equator Sport’s plug-in hybrid powertrain, too.

Of course, neither of these Chinese models – nor the Explorer – are built in right-hand drive.

Cars

Ford doesn’t sell many traditional cars anymore, with the Fiesta dead and the Focus exiting production this year. Only the Mustang lives on in its global portfolio.

In a handful of markets, however, the long-running Mondeo nameplate carries on, applied to a vehicle developed and built in China by the Changan Ford joint venture.

Also known as the Taurus in the Middle East, keeping another heritage name alive, the mid-sized sedan is offered with a choice of four-cylinder powertrains.

A turbocharged 1.5-litre petrol four opens the range with 140kW and 258Nm outputs delivered through an eight-speed automatic transmission.

There’s also a hybrid version of this with an electronic continuously variable transmission (e-CVT). Its engine produces 140kW and 222Nm and is mated with a 96kW/235Nm electric motor and a ternary lithium battery, for a total system output of 153kW.

Topping the range is a turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol four with 187kW/393Nm, also mated with an eight-speed auto.

The Mondeo/Taurus measures 4935mm long, 1875mm wide and 1500mm tall on a 2945mm wheelbase, which makes it 64mm longer and 25mm wider than the last Mondeo liftback sold here on a 95mm longer wheelbase.

It rides on MacPherson strut front and multi-link rear suspension, and is underpinned by a version of the same C2 platform used by the Escape and Edge L among others.

Inside, it comes standard with an 8.0-inch digital instrument cluster and a 13.2-inch infotainment touchscreen, but up-spec variants upgrade to a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and a whopping 27-inch touchscreen for a pillar-to-pillar effect.

As expected, a full suite of active safety technology is available, while the translated Chinese spec sheet also lists some cryptic features like Free Secret and Secret Letter of Space and Time. Hey, try and find a Toyota Camry with those!

The Mondeo also has a slightly higher-riding, liftback version called the Mondeo Sport (formerly known as the Evos).