Will we see the Ford Explorer someday?

Expected for over a year now, and still without a launch date, the Ford Explorer is losing its technical interest day by day.

After months of promotion, there is now complete silence on all fronts. Teased since January 2023, then unveiled in March 2023, the press release stated: “Available in two versions – Explorer and Explorer Premium – the new all-electric Explorer can be ordered later this year, at a price expected to start below 45,000 euros“.

As of February 2024, if social media continues to be flooded with advertisements urging patience, what about this project when competitors are rolling out their plans? Could it be a death sentence, especially since Ford keeps repeating that its sales of electric cars are disappointing and that it is considering revising its investments?

A Recarrossed Volkswagen ID.4?

It is not publicly known, but the Ford Explorer is based on the Volkswagen Group’s MEB platform, which first appeared for the compact ID.3 and later was adapted for the SUV ID.4 and ID.5. The Explorer also reuses the battery packs of 52 and 77 kWh. This raises some confusion: why such a record when the most challenging part to develop is already purchased from competitors?

The Ford Explorer is currently a purely European market product, and its production will take place at the German factory in Cologne. It is this update to the industrial tool that seems to be stuck.

The American manufacturer, aware of this delay, is it already trying to update its product? Because starting at 45,000 euros before subsidies—which it qualifies for due to its European production—the Explorer is clearly no longer competitive. Even its organ donor, the Volkswagen ID.4, has agreed to very steep price reductions to stay in the race against Tesla Model Y, Renault Scenic, or Peugeot E-3008, to name a few.

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