Ford won’t take on GM with a large American SUV in Australia

Ford Australia may have done the hard yards to get its popular F-150 full-size pickup Down Under, but the company’s local marketing boss says there are currently no plans to add a larger SUV to sit above the Everest.

Speaking with media at the launch of the new Everest Tremor, Ford Australia marketing director Ambrose Henderson said while there’s definitely customer interest in such a vehicle, a local conversion program of the American-market Explorer or F-150-based Expedition could prove to be a difficult business case.

“As you can imagine, when you ask customers what they’d like on anything, there’s always a very long list – so yes… absolutely we’ve been asked for bigger, wider, taller, stronger [SUVs],” Mr Henderson said.

“For us, it’s our job then to go, of all those wants, is there a market in Australia that makes a business case work? When you think about Australia and what customers are using their vehicles for, we think [the Everest’s] footprint is the right one.”

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“Not only do you want to carry a bunch of stuff and go 4×4-ing, but you also need to go to Coles and get the shopping, and parking cars that are significantly bigger than [the Everest] is much more challenging,” Mr Henderson continued.

“We go to that sort of detail when we’re deciding which product to bring in, but also about what we’re doing on any future products in terms of dimensions and size and things like that.

“As you can imagine, we’re always looking at our global product portfolio, what opportunities we have and what Australian customers are wanting. But at the end of the it comes down to the business case, and we assess each of those based on the business case.

“So we don’t have any product news to share today, and we continue to assess all of the product we have globally and whether it makes sense for us.”

Despite several teething issues post-launch, including recalls and stop-sales, the Ford F-150 managed to finish second in the American pickup sales race last year with 2427 deliveries, behind the Ram 1500 (3239) but ahead of the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 (2389).

While the full-size pickup segment has matured in Australia and continues to do solid volumes, the American SUV segment is in its infancy.

General Motors (GM) will be the first factory-backed entrant back in this space with the new GMC Yukon Denali, which is scheduled to arrive during the second quarter of 2025 in a single, high-spec trim priced from a lofty $169,990 plus on-road costs.

It was also the last company in this segment with the Holden Suburban, axed back in 2000. While that was produced in factory right-hand drive, the Yukon will be locally remanufactured from left- to right-hand drive by Walkinshaw Automotive in Melbourne like the Chevrolet Silverado.

Such positioning lines the GMC up against flagship European SUVs like the BMW X7 and Mercedes-Benz GLS, in addition to up-spec versions of the Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series and related Lexus LX.

A locally converted Ford SUV costing well in excess of $100,000 could be a niche too far for the Blue Oval in Australia, even if the F-150 is currently the brand’s most expensive offering starting at $106,950 plus on-roads.

Over in North America, the Ranger-derived Everest isn’t offered. Instead, Ford sells the slightly larger Explorer crossover, not to be confused with the European-market Explorer EV based on the Volkswagen ID.4.

Unlike the diesel-only Everest, the Explorer is offered with a choice of turbocharged petrol four-cylinder or V6 engines. Hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions have also previously been offered.

Ford also offers the considerably larger Expedition and Expedition Max, which serve as SUV companions to the company’s top-selling F-150 pickup.

The shorter (but still 5.3m-long) Expedition rivals the GMC Yukon, as well as the Chevrolet Tahoe and Jeep Wagoneer, and comes exclusively with twin-turbo V6 power.

Ford previously sold the North American Edge SUV as the Endura in Australia as a factory right-hand drive offering, but it was canned after just two years on sale due to slow sales.

The smaller European-produced Escape and Puma SUVs have also been culled locally in recent years, leaving the Thai-sourced Everest and Mexican-sourced, electric Mustang Mach-E as the Blue Oval’s only SUVs here.

It also offers a lone passenger car, the Mustang.

Now, Ford’s main focus in Australia appears to be four-wheel drive and commercial vehicles, with its electrification rollout centring around the Ranger PHEV as well as the incoming PHEV and EV versions of its latest Transit Custom van.

They’ll join the aforementioned Mustang Mach-E, plus the full-size E-Transit electric van.

Do you want to see Ford’s American SUVs in local showrooms? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

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