The AUV Killer: 2003 Ford Everest

For the past several years, Ford Motor Company Philippines has been deluged with the market’s clamor for a modern-day iteration of its Fiera Asian utility vehicle, which battled Toyota’s Tamaraw (now known as the Revo) for segment supremacy way back in the Seventies. Back then, the AUV was a crude commercial vehicle in the truest sense of the word–far from the SUV-mimicking models we are now familiar with. Today, Mitsubishi and Isuzu have risen to the challenge and are now competing with Toyota in the AUV category with their Adventure and Hi-Lander Crosswind models, respectively, but Ford is still without an AUV warrior.

Never wanting to be boxed by industry categories, Ford has one-upped the AUV manufacturers by coming up with a proper sport-utility vehicle that is expected to rival AUVs in terms of pricing and value for money. At the 24th Bangkok International Motor Show last week, Ford unveiled before the press the all-new Everest, an SUV that was based on the Ranger platform and designed especially for Asian markets. Bear in mind that this is a true sport-utility and not merely a glorified AUV, taking all of four years in design and development, according to chief platform engineer Chuck Bambenek.

The Everest shares 60 percent of the Ranger’s components, Bambenek added, including its 2.5-liter intercooled turbodiesel engine (121 horsepower and 277 Nm of torque) and the exterior styling from the front to the B-pillars. It will, however, be also available with a 2.6-liter gasoline engine, although Ford Group Philippines marketing and communications AVP Maricar Cristobal-Parco is leaning toward an all-diesel lineup once they launch the Everest in the last quarter of this year. (Needless to say, it’s wise to hold on to your cash now if you’re planning on a utility vehicle purchase.)

The rear-wheel-drive Everest will have 4×2 and 4×4 variants, with an automatic transmission made available for the 4×4 models.

The Everest, while very Ranger-looking up front, is gorgeous from the rear and its profile, thanks to the tailgate-mounted spare tire (with an equally good-looking cover that’s standard on high-end variants), side moldings, rear spoiler, and handsome 15-inch alloy wheels. The tailgate, by the way, swings sideways.

The Everest comfortably seats seven adults—no pretensions here of being a comical ten-seater since the industry is expecting a shift to a value-based taxation system soon. These seven seats are special in that they are arranged in a theater-style configuration in which the second-row seats are slightly higher than the front seats and the third-row seats are themselves higher than the middle-row seats. This tiered seating architecture guarantees that all passengers inside the Everest will have excellent visibility of the road ahead.

Another nice interior feature is the addition of extra aircon vents for the middle- and third-row seats, making the Everest an ideal vehicle for tropical countries like the Philippines.

Those who worry that the Everest might have a pickup ride due to its platform sharing with the Ranger will be glad to know that its suspension has been specially tuned for SUV comfort–on and off the road. Safety features are also bona fide SUV equipment: dual front airbags; four-wheel ABS; individual seat belts for all seven occupants; childproof door locks; fuel tank guards; collapsible steering column; and front-, side-, and rear-impact beams.

With the introduction of the Everest, Ford has now truly cemented its reputation for having the most complete SUV lineup in the world. The Everest joins the best-selling Explorer, the Expedition, the Excursion, and the Escape in Ford’s SUV stable.

The Everest is being made available in Thailand first, to be followed shortly by launches in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Brunei. By next year, the Everest will be sold in about 50 countries, including UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Angola, Ghana, Gabon, Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Tahiti.

The Everest will be manufactured at Ford’s AutoAlliance Thailand plant in the Rayong province.

By Vernon B. Sarne | Photos Courtesy of Ford Motor Company