New Product for 2020 at Ford Uncovered

By Larry Nutson
Senior Editor and Bureau Chief
Chicago Bureau
The Auto Channel

Ford gave us peek under the tent this week when it invited a cadre of media to a "Ford Uncovered" briefing at its Product Development Center in Dearborn, Michigan. Ford said it will revamp three-quarters of its models in the next two years.

Why the invite? Ford sales are soft, its stock prices aren’t moving, and there’s been some executive changes since Jim Hackett took over as President and CEO. Ford wants the media to spread the word and needs to convince investors that they have a good plan in place to boost finances.

Mentioned subtly in the presentation, I heard it said that key dealers were brought in the day before to see and hear the same presentation.

Ford said that by 2020 86 percent of its North American production would be trucks and SUVs, up from 70 percent now. “We will have the freshest line-up in the US industry by 2020,” said Jim Farley, president of global markets. The company said it aims to cut average showroom age from 5.7 years now to 3.3 years by 2020.

So, what did we see? We’ll I can’t tell you much. We’re bound by an embargo…until further notice.

What I can say is Ford is moving to flexible vehicle architectures instead of platforms. There will be more common parts across models, cutting new product development time – from sketch to dealer showroom – by 20 percent.

Ford’s five flexible vehicle architectures – body-on-frame, front-wheel-drive unibody, rear-wheel-drive unibody, commercial van unibody and BEV – are paired with module “families” that address the power pack, electrical pack and vehicle configurations.

Seventy percent of each vehicle’s engineering will be driven from this new architecture approach, with 30 percent of content – including grilles, hoods, doors and more – customized for each vehicle. In other words, different skins.

In some cases for markets that require a unique vehicle that can’t be sold globally, Ford will partner and create joint ventures. For example, China needs a small BEV so Ford partnered with Zotye Auto.

Ford will revamp its SUV lineup adding hybrid gas-electric powertrains plus two new off-road SUVs and two new trucks. The F-150 will get a hybrid powertrain and by 2020 there will be an all-electric SUV with a 300 mile driving range. And for the drivers out there, the Mustang Shelby GT 500 is coming soon.

More specifically I can say that Ford will introduce four new trucks and SUVs. Following on the heels of the Transit Connect the larger Transit van will get an update. Along with the new EcoSport and Expedition there will be an all-new Escape and also a new Explorer.

We saw two new Explorers, one of them an Explorer ST, and the new Escape.

The Bronco is coming in 2020 and there will be another, yet un-named small SUV specifically aimed at the off-road market by 2020. Jim Farley, president of global markets, said Ford ”wants to give people true off-road vehicles that are comfortable at higher speeds on two-track trails and in deep sand on the beach.”

Ford hinted at a new Raptor too. The current F-150 Raptor is often called the Porsche 911 of off-road vehicles. My guess is we should keep an eye on the new Ranger pickup that is coming!

Ford confirmed the development of a battery-electric crossover. Details of the EV, however, were confidential.

Jim Farley suggested “we close our eyes and think of a 4-door utility with the rebel soul of a Mustang. Long slung. Sleek silhouette. Zero emissions.”

The powerful Shelby Mustang GT500 will be launched in 2019 along side the GT350. We saw it but can’t say much. Ford did confirm that the powertrain would be a supercharged V8 with more than 700 horsepower. Ford has got to keep up with the likes of the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 with more than 650-horsepower and the 707-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat.

By 2020 Ford with its Co-Pilot 360 suite of advanced driver-assist technologies will make automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, blind spot detection and lane keeping standard in most of its line-up, rather than optional as at present.

Ford is going heavy into hybrids by making them mainstream. Expect to see them in the F-150, the Escape, the Explorer, the Mustang and more. They are the number two seller behind Toyota but expect top be number one in 2021.

Lincoln wasn’t let out of the conversation. The Lincoln Motor Company will debut a production preview of the all-new Lincoln Aviator at the New York Auto Show later this month. It's the first of two new SUVs with four more all-new Lincoln SUVs on the way along with electrification of its lineup globally.

Note that all the vehicles we saw are human-driven (thank God). News on autonomous vehicles was not to be heard. Stay tuned.

© 2018 Larry Nutson, the Chicago Car Guy