Ford Territory News

Ford Territory lives on! And so does the Escape and Puma. Bring them back to Australia along with the Explorer to help Ranger and Everest in the fight against the 2025 Toyota LandCruiser, Nissan Patrol, Kia Sorento and Toyota RAV4 | Opinion
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By Laura Berry · 17 May 2025
Ford Australia has axed so many of its cars over the past two years that it almost has nothing left on sale. It’s just lucky that one of the few cars left that it does sell — the Ranger ute — does so in enormous numbers. So what’s missing from Ford’s line-up? A lot. Here are the cars we think Ford really needs in Australia right now.Ford lacks a rival, to not just to hardcore four-wheel drives like the Toyota LandCruiser and Nissan Patrol, but to more domesticated Aussie family favourites such as the Toyota Kluger, Kia Sorento and Hyundai Santa Fe.Yes, the Ford Everest seats seven and can go off-road with the best of them, but a more plush and comfortable suburban cruiser would fit nicely in the line-up.Now this might hurt a little bit and I apologise in advance, but in South Africa you can buy a Ford Territory. I know, what the Ford!?So, the South African Ford Territory is made in China and sold in other countries but it’s made in right-hand drive, which means there’s no reason why we can’t have it here.This new Territory isn’t as big as the Santa Fe at 4.63m long so it’s not really a large SUV but still, what a shame.What Australia really needs is a Ford Explorer, as in the petrol-powered version form the United States, not the UK electric version. The US Explorer is a a five-metre long seven seater, while the UK version is 4.4m and smaller than an Escape.Nope, bigger is better in this case and while the Explorer is currently only made in left hand drive, there is a chance a right hand drive might get the green light for the next-gen model.Ford axing the Escape is the car company equivalent to throwing away your only pair of pants just because you don’t like the colour of them.OK, that’s a terrible analogy but the point is mid-sized SUVs are the bread and butter of car brands and they sell all year long in large numbers and they’re kind of an essential item to car manufacturers. Ford axed the Escape because it didn’t sell enough of them. But it could easily bring back the Escape because it’s sold in the right-hand drive in the UK.Ford should seriously consider it, the mid-sized SUV segment is increasing in size at 19.6 per cent market share and Ford’s not able to join in the spoils. Toyota has the RAV4, Kia has the Sportage, Nissan has the X-Trail and Ford has nothing. No pants to wear at all.If there’s something Australians love almost as much as mid-sized SUVs it’s a small SUV. We’re talking the likes of the Toyota Corolla Cross, Hyundai Kona and the MG ZS. And Ford did have the Puma, but axed it in 2024 just four years after it arrived.The Puma was a high-quality feeling and premium looking SUV, but it was overpriced compared to its rivals and so sales struggled. People want premium looking at budget prices apparently.The Puma is sold in the UK as a hybrid and a fully-electric vehicle, so bringing it to Australia wouldn’t require anything other than a trip on a boat from Romania where they’re made.So there you are, Ford has pretty much all the cars it needs in right-hand drive to take the fight to rivals such as the Toyota RAV4 and Corolla Cross, the Kia Sorento and Hyundai Santa Fe.Will we see the Territory again? Will Aussies be OK with a Chinese made Territory? Given the the shift in attitudes and growing maturity towards Chinese brands and their rapid take-up there's no reason they wouldn't be.Sure bringing back the Territory nameplate, plus the Puma and Escape could be a risk for Ford, but would it be as big a risk as having all your eggs in the Ranger basket as it does now?
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The top 10 landmark Australian cars since 2000, including the Ford Falcon, Holden Monaro, Ford Territory and... Holden Crewman?? | Opinion
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By Byron Mathioudakis · 02 Jan 2025
What have been the most significant Australian cars since January 1, 2000 so far? With the first 25 years of the 21st century now out of the way, we rate the 10 most important models that left their mark, or came into their own afterwards.

The most important cars of the 21st century: Did your car make the cut into our top 10 cars of the first 25 years of the 2000s? What the Ford Territoy, BYD Atto 3, Mitsubishi Outlander, Tesla Model 3 and Mini Cooper have in common | Opinion
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By Byron Mathioudakis · 30 Dec 2024
Here are our top 10 cars released in the first 25 years of this century.

The greatest Australian car ever at 20: why the transformative Ford Territory remains the brand's best vehicle globally so far this century (and almost led to the Holden Nullarbor)
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By Byron Mathioudakis · 26 May 2024
Australia's greatest car - and our only-ever SUV - turns 20. Here are the life and times of the Ford Territory.

Where's Wally? The shocking gaps in Ford, Mazda, Toyota, Nissan and Subaru's Australian line-ups
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By Byron Mathioudakis · 14 Apr 2024
Some carmakers have some very conspicuous gaps in their product portfolios. There’s no rhyme or reason why, and no consistency across brands. Just the glaring holes that would surely make their lives – and not to mention their associated dealers – happier if filled with the right models. Here are the main offenders.
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Ford Territory lives! But not the Australian-made, Falcon-based family SUV you're thinking of. Could South America and South-East Asian markets MG ZS, Hyundai Kona and Mazda CX-30 rival finally come to Australia?
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By James Cleary · 14 Feb 2024
You probably know Ford’s Territory nameplate lives on, the most recent compact SUV version developed in China for the domestic market, with significant input from the Ford Australia design team in Broadmeadows.

Ford Australia then and now: 10 years on from the day Ford announced the end of Australian manufacturing and changed our car industry forever
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By Byron Mathioudakis · 28 May 2023
Has it really been 10 years since Ford announced that it would cease making vehicles in Australia? The actual date, Thursday, May 23, 2013, happened to coincide with the national press launch of Holden's all-important VF Commodore – Australia's last-ditch effort to reverse freefalling large-car sales as well as revive exports with the US-bound Chevrolet SS version.
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These are the best used cars to buy! Ford Territory, Toyota Corolla, Mitsubishi ASX and more in our list of cherries
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By Laura Berry · 19 Mar 2023
This week we are publishing our top 5 list of Cherries - those cars known to be reliable and generally free from manufacturing and engineering faults.

What's in a name? Why it looks like car companies have run out of good names | Opinion
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By Stephen Ottley · 12 Nov 2022
Naming cars used to be simple - either you picked some evocative names (think Mustang, Falcon, Monaro, etc) or a sequence of numbers and/or letters (think 3 Series, C-Class, A4, etc) - but these days it feels more like car names are randomly selected by marketing teams rushing to get to the weekend.
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A cheap Ford Maverick by Holden? A bargain Nissan Skyline? The still affordable Aussie future classics by Holden, Ford, Toyota, Mitsubishi and Nissan you should snap up right now
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By Byron Mathioudakis · 23 Oct 2022
Five years ago, this month, Holden became the final carmaker to withdraw from full-vehicle manufacturing in Australia. Predictably, since then, prices of locally-made “metal bumper bar” and high-performance models have soared. Yet – almost unbelievably – there are some increasingly rare Australian classics that are still within reach. Here’s a list of our top five. But you better get in quick!