Unlike Holden, which never managed to engineer and build an SUV locally, Ford hit the ground running with the Ford Territory. It was a sales success for the brand, and built on the already impressive platform developed locally by Ford Australia's engineering team.
Despite Ford's local advantage – a large, locally built sedan and SUV – it wasn't enough to retain local manufacturing. As a result, the last Ford Territory and Falcon models rolled off the line in October 2016, marking the end of local manufacturing for the Australian arm.
With the Territory now dead, Ford needed an SUV to fill the gap. With a comprehensive SUV line-up that includes the pint-sized EcoSport, mid-sized Escape and large Everest, a large non-off-road SUV was still missing.
Ford confirmed earlier this year that the SUV to fill that gap would be the Ford Edge. But, there's a twist. We won't get a seven-seat version (like the one dedicated to the Chinese version), nor will it be called the Edge due to a trademark issue with Toyota.
In keeping with Ford's global SUV strategy, SUVs start with the letter 'E', and as a result the Ford Edge was renamed the Endura – just for Australia and New Zealand.
We had the chance to get behind the wheel of the US-specification Ford Edge Sport in Los Angeles recently, and we came away impressed with the package.
