The 2011 Ford Explorer makes its debut in Dearborn.
With thousands of employees, dealers and suppliers watching, Ford took the wraps off its 2011 Explorer at a big party outside the company’s World Headquarters in Dearborn.
Derrick Kuzak, Ford’s global product development director, gave a brief rundown on the new sport utility vehicle’s attributes, saying that they all needed to be salespeople for redesigned SUV. (Click here for full details on the new, 2011 Ford Explorer.)
With local band Fifty Amp Fuse playing covers of well-known songs, the Explorer rolled over a 25-foot-tall “mountain” of dirt on the west lawn of Ford’s iconic Glass House as the Ford faithful waved the white T-shirts they were given.
Nearby, in a tent for dealers, Bill Demmer, president of Jack Demmer Ford in Wayne and Jack Demmer Lincoln-Mercury in Dearborn, said the new Explorer will help rejuvenate a fallen Ford model.
“It kind of faded away quietly,” Demmer said of the current SUV. “It’s exciting with the technology they’re building into the (new) car.”
“You can tell that Ford Motor Company is driven,” he said. “We’re finally on the right page.”
Demmer said the new Explorer gives another choice to buyers who find the styling of the Flex crossover too polarizing.
Ford needs to rebuild momentum for what was long the world's best-selling SUV.
Explorer sales have faded, largely because buyers need better fuel economy, he said. The new Explorer will have a new 3.5-liter V-6 and a turbocharged 2.0-liter four cylinder with 20-30 percent better fuel economy than the V-6 in the current Explorer.
Demmer said he doubts the Explorer’s go-anywhere off-roading capability will be all that important in the U.S., where studies have shown that the only roadless driving most SUV buyers do is on a dirt driveway, but he said it will be a big deal in world markets.
One area where the Explorer will have less capability is in towing. Current Explorers can be equipped to tow up to 7,115 pounds, but the new unibody Explorer will have maximum towing capability of 5,000 pounds, just 500 pounds more than the Flex, but Demmer doesn’t expect that to be an issue.
He said the economic meltdown caused many people to downsize everything from their houses to the toys they pull behind their vehicles, so many will get by with less towing capacity.