This is an SUV called the Ford Territory. Ford says
it is new, especially developed for China and all. That is not totally true. It
is a new Ford, but not a new car. The Territory is based on the
Yusheng S330, a cheap local SUV that sells for just 80.000 yuan or US$ 7300.
Yusheng is a brand under Jiangling Motors
Corporation (JMC), one of Ford’s two joint venture partners in China. This
joint venture will also make the Territory. Morphing the S330 into the
Territory was easy: slap a new front on, change the dash a bit, fancy wheels,
Ford badges, and done.
Why does Ford do this? Because they are desperate.
Ford sales in China are slow and not growing. The company doesn’t have anything
good in the pipeline. But hey, guess what? Their joint venture partner had just
the kind of sweet compact SUV that it needed. So Ford grabbed it by the grille.
Another thing that Ford could stand to bring here is
the Territory's powertrain lineup. The Territory will have a standard gasoline
version, in addition to 48-volt mild hybrid and plug-in hybrid variants. The
Territory also contains some pretty standard tech, like adaptive cruise
control, automatic braking and an embedded modem.
