New Ford SUV Onslaught Doesn't Mean Ignoring Fuel Efficiency

2017 Ford Explorer

At a time when automakers are facing the prospect of having to increase fleet average fuel economy from 35.1 mpg in 2016 to 54.5 mpg in 2025, the idea of ​​building even more the SUV seems to be completely Damn. Although the Ford Vice President of Marketing and Sales Mark LaNeve kick off 2016 Chicago Auto Show last week announcing the addition of four new SUV signs on Ford's global lineup.

LaNeve did not give any specifics on exactly where the new products would join the lineup that has led to some speculation that perhaps Ford was gonna back the bad old days of a decade ago. At that time the US-based automakers built trucks and SUVs as fast as they could while ignoring fuel efficiency, such as fuel prices were on the spike and the economy would collapse. This impression is further enhanced by the recent announcement of Fiat Chrysler that will end production of the Chrysler 200 and Dodge Dart 2017.

While the makings of a disastrous misstep can not be excluded, the situation is different in important ways quite different today than it was a decade ago. Pending a review of interim fuel economy standards before 2018 and is sure to NHTSA and the EPA will reduce their future goals, but that is by no means a certainty and the automakers can not afford to assume that there will be a change. Planning for the vehicles coming to market in 2019-2020 is already underway and the 2025 generation will begin soon.

At the same time Ford and everyone else has to face the reality of the market where petrol is cheap and likely to remain so for some time to come and more and more, consumers are showing a preference for higher riding utility vehicles.

During his keynote Chicago, LaNeve made clear that while Ford used the SUV term, that should not imply that he was speaking only for adding more gigantic body-on-frame utility programs such as the much-derided excursion fees 1990s Ford in today's language, the generic term SUV includes everything from the great mission to unibody crossovers such as the current Explorer and high sub-compacts like the EcoSport sold in other parts of the world.

The new Ford EcoSport car is displayed during the unveiling in New Delhi on
January 4, 2012. Ford previewed its new EcoSport compact SUV car on the
eve of India Auto Expo 2012. US car giant Ford said Wednesday it was
opening a new dealership in India every 10 days to feed demand in
a market it expects to be the third-biggest worldwide by the end
of the decade. 

LaNeve went on to discuss the general trend all subsequent generations of car buyers tend to have a preference for something other than their parents led. This explains the general aversion to minivans that ruled the late 1980s and in the 1990s and, more recently, the move away from the middle and larger cars to smaller cars, and now to small and midsize crossovers.

The same at the intersection is a rapidly progressive form. The modern crossover of appeared in the early 1990s when Toyota began scaling down the look of the traditional SUV based on truck and its application to compact car platforms with the original RAV4. Today, these vehicles run the gamut from sub-compact Mazda CX-3 massive three series devices like the Honda Pilot and Chevrolet Traverse for.

   A Citroen car C4 cactus is presented at the 2014 Paris Auto Show on
October 2, 2014 in Paris on the first of the two press days.

More recently automakers have experimented with new forms that combine the highest visibility hip-point and added that customers claim to like utilities with a style decidedly un-truck-like. Taking a hint from the early 1980 AMC Eagle, BMW brought our sport coupe utility to X 6 and 4 X, a figure that has been imitated by other automakers in varying degrees of success or failure (we're looking at you, Acura ZDX).

At an event in December 2015, Ford of Europe president Jim Farley spoke vigorously tall vehicles that remove further remnants of truckishness like Captur Renault, Citroen Cactus, Mercedes-Benz GLA and of course the Nissan Juke. NEW-utilities are the fastest growing segment in Europe and Farley looked intact to compete with something wearing the blue oval.

Ford Bronco

While it is widely assumed to come the next-generation EcoSport in the North American market, LaNeve confirmed in Chicago that no existing signs will be among the four additional patterns that it is possible that their American customers could actually get five new options. Along with the EcoSport, I make the following views:

• Lincoln should expand the range and while our enthusiasts would love to see a coupe Mark IX, based on the Mustang platform, which is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Instead, a new Aviator three-series based on a redesigned Explorer on schedule in 2018. The new 400-horsepower 3.0-liter EcoBoost V6 underhood this would be a solid performer at the top to take the Audi Q7 and upcoming BMW X 7 and the Acura MDX.

• As-entry point in the range of premium, the smallest vehicle ever to where Lincoln star, a variant of EcoSport next generation. The GLA Mercedes-Benz and Audi Q2 will the immediate objectives.

• On the Ford brand side of the house, hardcore SUV fans have long clamored for something similar with the original Bronco in the early 1970s before he grew into a beast-based F-150. By the mid-size Ranger pickup trucks are generally believed to be replacing the focus on the Ford Wayne assembly plant, Mich, 2018, a wild horse from this platform could ultimately be a real challenger to cash cow fiat Chrysler Jeep Wrangler.

• Finally, Farley almost certainly will get a neo-utility, unlike anything Ford has built to date. Different this kind of crossover could come from either the next-generation Fiesta focus platforms or to be debuting in 2017 and 2018 respectively. This even get a performance-oriented ST or even RS variant.

But what about fuel economy? Back in December Ford said it would add 13 electrifying new signs until 2020 and is a safe bet that at least three if not I will be among them and four of these new utilities. With Ford talking about spending $ 4.5 billion for the electrification in the next five years, the project will include a range of technologies from the 48-volt mild hybrids full battery electric motors. The Ford engineers and executives were particularly bullish in many speeches and presentations on the potential for 48-volt electrical systems to provide cost-effective improvements in fuel efficiency by enabling electricity sub-systems such as coolant pumps and oil and electric turbocharging.

We will probably see an automatic stop-start as a minimum for each of these new models. The Aviator happens will probably get either a plug-hybrid or perhaps an electric battery system to rise somewhat make the European premium brands in this segment. Bronco may be the only outlier, although a mild-hybrid is a distinct possibility.

The SUV is back, at least for now, but it's a different animal from the gas-guzzling Hummers of a decade ago. Tesla even knows this and has shown but may be unaware of the market with its X model and a rumored crossover variant of the model 3. Ford's product designers understand the reality in both market and environmental regulations facing in the next decade. With oil prices expected to remain low at least through 2020, should develop applications portfolio product enough to consumers at a price they can afford it can meet all of these regulatory mandates. At present a multitude of utilities that seems to be the way to go.

Disclaimer: While I was working with a group of Ford Communications from late 2011 to mid-2014, none of what is written here is based on information I had before taking my current job as an analyst with technology transfer Navigant Research. Based entirely on publicly available information and discussions with Ford representatives of the public and media forums.
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