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Ford is on the offensive in SA after a quiet few years. It builds the popular Ranger bakkie outside Pretoria, which is doing a good job of hoovering up the leisure bakkie market, and has plugged some holes it had in its range — most importantly the ever-important mid-size crossover SUV segment.
Having had no real offering since the run-out of the Kuga, Ford opted to reprise a nameplate that separates the ou ballies from the laaitjies in the motor industry reporting game — the Territory. The Territory’s story reflects the changing motor industry. The original car from 2004 was a large family SUV developed in Australia. It was a good car, and the ST version was a hilariously quick, turbocharged blue-collar zap sign to the Mercedes-AMGs of the world, making it a legitimate fast Ford.
The new Territory is built in China, principally for that market, and is manufactured by Ford’s partner there, JMC.
It’s important to put to bed the idea that the Territory isn’t a proper Ford. In much the same way that Ford Europe developed the Fiesta and the Ka for European drivers rather than Americans, the Territory is a market-specific assault on a critical segment and represents entirely rational practice from a global brand.
The important question is whether this works for SA drivers and families. To ensure that it does, Ford made a good decision to eschew the 1.5l version altogether and fit the more powerful, 138kW 1.8l turbocharged Ecoboost motor to all trim levels in the local range.
More importantly, 328Nm of torque is deftly handled by a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox and feels usefully available in the real world. The motor’s peak torque drops off after about 3,000rpm and can feel a little asthmatic in a sprint, but this is not unlike complaining about the boot space in an F1 car, which is to rather miss the point.
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