Automotive industry is like a soap opera, their relationship is so complicated even the five thousand years old American show Young & Restless looks like a piece of cake. Ford and GM bought every car brand which was left alone and they were very close to be bankrupted. Now hopefully they started to recover and focus on their main brand which they forgot for two decades.
And now we have the new Ford Explorer, one decade ago it was one of the worst SUV was built on planet, may in solar system also. It was less reliable than Kia and I don’t know why one decade ago Ford Explorer had many problems. I guess at those times Ford was focused on buying European brands which were left from GM and forgot that they were making cars!
Let’s go back to new Ford Explorer, in my opinion that’s a very well made and quite nice looking SUV for American market not for Europe! When I read the press documents, I saw that Explorer will have 2,0lt EcoBoost engine which produces 240 horsepower! That’s awful (American expression)! This engine as awful as olive oil in your kitchen.
Olive oil is not very common in US, that’s normal because it is produced quite faraway from US. And people started to prefer olive oil more but still it is something new to Americans. Unfortunately it is a bit expensive also due to transportation costs :(
But don’t worry this new European 2,0lt awful engine is not like that :) Ford Explorer with 2,0lt EcoBoost engine is a like a olive oil bottle in McDonald’s kitchen. For last two thousand years in US market small engines were something really small and it was not something to prefer when you have the huge V8 engines. Hopefully Ford woke up and mated this new European engine with Explorer but this is not whole story.
Ford was the previous owner of Land Rover and in 2004 Land Rover introduced a new technology called Terrain Response. In basic terms, you look at the road in front and select similar icon on the know and car is reacting to this preferred road condition. This made off road driving very easy for normal people. Interestingly while they were selling Land Rover to Tata, some documents left actually some symbols left from Land Rover.
The new terrain management programme in Explorer has a know like Land Rover and it has the same symbols! I don’t criticize Ford, but come on why didn’t you replace the symbols with different ones. They are the same ones which were used in Land Rover Discovery, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover! You have many design people in Ford, just tell them to design something different and that’s all.
The rest of the new Explorer is quite good, it has very European features like collision warning system, radar guided cruise control, inflatable seatbelts (this is new toy), LED lights, blind spot warnings and similar things which you can find in Ford Mondeo.
Ford did a really good job but I still won’t buy an Explorer, sorry the brand image still have some problems. I prefer Mondeo, if I have to have a Ford badge! I really looking forward to hear the feedbacks from European engine in US :)
And Sony is not making climate control systems, don't be confused ;)
Pictures Copyrights;
Land Rover, Ford and Olive
Nürburgring, it is like the high way next to your house or your father’s farm! It is not something very unusual or unknown, every car manufacturer occasionally visit Nürburgring and make a faster lap than ever. Ten years ago nobody had an idea about Nürburgring and it was something mystery. However thanks to marketing departments, it turned into something very usual. I am pretty sure that half of us can drive in Nürburgring like we drive to home.
But the Porsche made the difference again! As they stick their brand into a power drill (link), they created a new type of lap record in somewhere else. Yes, Porsche finally found somewhere else different than Nürburgring and it is called Pikes Peak located in USA. It is a hill climb with various road conditions like Nürburgring but as you climb higher, the car is struggling more due to adverse weather conditions! So, you can proof the master of your engineering much easier like Porsche did it :)
I am telling you now, in next one decade Pikes Peak will be the next Nürburgring. If you have extra money, just buy some land and you will make fortune by selling to car companies :) After Porsche, Audi will unleash a fast lap and Ferrari and Mercedes and BMW and Maserati and Land Rover and the rest. 
Honestly, marketing departments should find somewhere else then Nürburgring because it is becoming more boring !
Anyone who is interested on cars know one thing! Mercedes and BMW are the king of creating segments and time to time being disappointed for their decision. Especially Mercedes has a special talent to introduce new segment even the people in Mercedes could not understand what that is! For example; Mercedes R Class, B Class and CLC Class. These are the contributions from Mercedes to automotive history, what not to produce!
However I do like the risk taking strategy of Mercedes, they are take risk focus on R&D and introduce a new model. That’s the Mercedes image, don’t worry Mercedes charges for failed class from normal models. Therefore Mercedes is “overpriced”.
But Audi is keen on to strength its position like Mercedes and become an icon for introducing dull and pointless models. And they have achieved this :) Audi A7; contemporary way to waste your wealth! Here is the message from Audi’s press document, elegant coupe, sport sedan and practical wagon. When I read this I remembered something else which is an icon for wasting your money, Swiss Army knife. Everyone buy it and never use it, because it is useless. You cannot cut a paper, you cannot use as a screw. The only good thing, you just own it.
From the press release I imagined this; Audi A7 is like wearing formal jacket over a t-shirt mated with tie and jean with hole and boots designed to climb mountain. 
Audi A7 is exactly like this. From engineers perspective that’s an excellent car to drive, its offering every kind of safety technology like in A8. And its design; I cannot say I love it but that’s okay. Some people will like it, some people will not like it. But Audi A7 has a small problem. This car is as big as chateaux and just accommodate four passengers with a weird hatchback. More basically, you will pay a huge amount of money for a car which is maximum at outside, minimum at inside and you will have back that looks like very interesting. I can clearly say, Audi A7 is the first which has two fronts.
Automotive industry is like a soap opera, their relationship is so complicated even the five thousand years old American show Young & Restless looks like a piece of cake. Ford and GM bought every car brand which was left alone and they were very close to be bankrupted. Now hopefully they started to recover and focus on their main brand which they forgot for two decades.
Olive oil is not very common in US, that’s normal because it is produced quite faraway from US. And people started to prefer olive oil more but still it is something new to Americans. Unfortunately it is a bit expensive also due to transportation costs :(
But don’t worry this new European 2,0lt awful engine is not like that :) Ford Explorer with 2,0lt EcoBoost engine is a like a olive oil bottle in McDonald’s kitchen. For last two thousand years in US market small engines were something really small and it was not something to prefer when you have the huge V8 engines. Hopefully Ford woke up and mated this new European engine with Explorer but this is not whole story. 
Ford was the previous owner of Land Rover and in 2004 Land Rover introduced a new technology called Terrain Response. In basic terms, you look at the road in front and select similar icon on the know and car is reacting to this preferred road condition. This made off road driving very easy for normal people. Interestingly while they were selling Land Rover to Tata, some documents left actually some symbols left from Land Rover.
The rest of the new Explorer is quite good, it has very European features like collision warning system, radar guided cruise control, inflatable seatbelts (this is new toy), LED lights, blind spot warnings and similar things which you can find in Ford Mondeo.
