Detroit debut: Ford Edge

Newswheel staff :: 08 January 2006 :: Filed under Crossover, SUV, Ford, Ford Edge, Trade shows, US

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CUV to save Ford?

First, get one thing straight. The new Ford Edge is not an SUV. It’s a CUV – a crossover utility vehicle. The sort of car that tacitly concedes most SUV owners never stray from the hard black stuff in their big, beastly all-wheel drive vehicles. Think BMW X5 – chunky off-road style and that raised driving position the ladies go crazy for, coupled with car-like road manners and perhaps a dash of slightly-sane fuel economy.

According to Ford’s PR bumpf, CUV sales in the US topped 2 million in 2005 and are expected to surpass conventional SUVs in terms of overall volume in 2006. CUVs, in other words, are The Next Big Thing in the US market. Given Ford’s recent difficulties, therefore, the Edge might be, ya know, kinda important. Still, we’re not sure exactly what definitions Ford is using when totting up those sales figures. But we can give you the technical low down on the Edge.

Click and ye shall receive (a high-res image)

By US standards, this funky looking number is a positively compact machine (it’s based on a modified Mazda6 platform) powered by a new 3.5-litre V6 engine pumping out 250bhp. It’s a thoroughly modern unit, the V6, with four-valve heads and an all-aluminium construction. The rest of the driveline and transmission includes a six-speed auto box and a so-called intelligent four-wheel drive system. Ford says the driveline is tuned for performance and boasts an on-demand active coupler that delivers torque to wheels as conditions demands. Which probably translates into a conventional torque-sensing part-time 4x4 system. The Edge will also be available with Ford’s AdvanceTrac with RSC (that’s Roll Stability Control, folks). Apparently, it’s the only stability control system on the market which uses two gyroscopic sensors to monitor both yaw and roll motions. So, now you know.

High-res goodness just a digit twitch away…

What’s more, the Edge’s underpinnings will find their way into the upcoming Lincoln MKX, also due to be shown at Detroit. And, of course, the Mazda CX-7. The Edge goes on sale at the end of 2006 in the US. Will it be coming to Europe and the UK? We don’t know. But since the platform has been engineered for right-hand drive (the CX-7 is Blighty-bound), it’s certainly not out of the question.