Ford Explorer America Concept

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What is it?
Ford Explorer America

What's special about it?
Ford has wrapped up all its near-term future fuel-saving technology into one blockish concept vehicle for the 2008 Detroit Auto Show and named it the Explorer America.

This SUV concept, which Ford notes is — gasp! — based on a unibody, not body-on-frame structure, uses a direct-injection turbocharged gas motor. Or rather, in theory it would be offered with a choice of two engines: a 2.0-liter direct-injection turbocharged four-cylinder making 275 horsepower and a 340-hp turbocharged 3.5-liter V6. That engine will be the first of many direct-injected turbocharged motors to make it to production. In 2009, this V6 will be offered as an option on the Lincoln MKS, where it will deliver V8 power with V6 fuel efficiency, says Ford.

In touting the technology, Ford seems to forget that DI turbo engines are already in production from German, Japanese and American competitors. But Ford is pushing the technology hard, saying that it will be available in half a million Ford vehicles in the next five years.

Other not entirely new technologies featured in the concept crossover are electric power-assisted steering and a six-speed automatic transmission. One concept-car gewgaw: The interior apparently incorporates a three-dimensional compass and a navigation system with a topographical map. So there's that.

What's Edmunds' take?
A six-speed automatic? Unibody construction? Not exactly ground-breaking, conceptual stuff here. It's kind of cute, though. — Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit