Demand for cars is apparently waning but not the speed. This is the reason why automaker Ford Motor Co. is rolling out its first SUV. The company has publicly introduced this week its race-ready ST Edition of the Edge sports utility vehicle.
Ford Motor Co. has introduced its vehicle in advance during the Detroit auto show. The company’s car is powered by a 335-horsepower twin-turbo V-6 engine. Designer Steve Gilmore said the car was engineered to look “sinister.”
In the US, experts claim that car buyers continue to migrate in using utility vehicles. They noted that some actually prefers to use the Taurus SHO sports sedans as well as the Focus ST vehicles.
More SUVs
“I wouldn’t describe it as a niche,” Raj Nair, head of Ford’s North American operations, told Bloomberg in an interview. “We see it as big enough to pursue some real engineering and some real unique parts. For that to pay off, it needs to be a pretty healthy business.”
Nair said that Ford’s Edge would be the first in the company’s series of SUVs. But analysts hinted that both Escape and subcompact Ecosport is due for an ST upgrade.
For Karl Brauer, executive publisher of Cox Automotive Inc., people are now choosing trucks and SUVs rather than cars, citing “practicality.”
“People are running away from cars, and they’re running toward trucks and SUVs,” said Brauer in the same Bloomberg report. “Why not have the performance elements of cars migrate to SUVs, too?”
Car enthusiasts described the Edge as a mid-sized vehicle that would potentially attract female owners among Ford’s SUVs. Ford said that Edge’s primary rival is the styled Nissan Murano.
