Ford Builds a Better Edge, But You Won't Find It Here
Ford doesn’t just want European SUV buyers to flock to its Edge, it wants luxury buyers, too.
The automaker is busy rolling out a refined version of its midsize CUV on the Continent, but an even plusher version is on the way, Automotive News Europe reports. With no Lincolns to sell, Ford figures it can turn one of its own into an Audi-fighter.
In Europe, the Edge counts as a large SUV, with nothing positioned above it. It’s the first full-sizer offered by Ford since the Explorer faded from the market in 2001.
According to the report, Ford’s European buyers are used to nicer things, so the American-market Edge just won’t do. Extra sound-deadening, reductions in noise, vibration and harshness, and technology borrowed from the upscale Mondeo Vignale come standard on the Euro Edge.
Ford can’t Brexit itself away from European Union regulators, so a 2.0-liter diesel is the only available engine. Don’t expect American EcoBoost fans to shed any tears over missing out.
With nothing else to work with, the automaker needs the Edge to be everything to everyone. That means transforming it into a quasi-Lincoln and selling that version as the Edge Vignale.
“We see the competition as the Volvo XC60 and Audi Q5,” Matthias Tonn, the European Edge’s chief engineer, told Automotive News Europe. “In the U.S., they are not our competition.”
The automaker expects buyers to flock to the newly civilized Edge, raising its annual sales expectations to 25,000–30,000. When it first unveiled the production Edge to customers in 2014, it only expected sales of 20,000.
[Image: Ford Motor Company]
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To compete with Audi and Volvo it would need to be a big improvement on the rental Edge I drove a few years ago. It's ride had a big impact on me, feeling like a well damped, twenty year old Landcruiser. Forget all the pretty leather and chrome bits.
I hope the quality of the exterior is better on this Edge over the one tested on this site. Misfitting trim and loose door seals for a vehicle costing 50k. Hopefully that was not typical of the Edge.
What's a vignale?
Once again the One World Ford slips into oblivion.