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DRAWING INTO NEW TERRITORY

Ford Australia's designers were presented with a genuine challenge in creating the new Ford Territory.

"We had to create a vehicle that embodied the strength and power of a traditional SUV, while having the prestige, agility and nimbleness of a sporting sedan," said Ford Asia Pacific Design Director Simon Butterworth.

"All the market research and hours of customer focus groups pointed to the same fact. Australians like the strength of a traditional SUV but don't like the baggage that comes with such a vehicle.

"They dislike the lack of manoeuverability in the city, where most of these vehicles are driven. Quite often the driving experience is one they don't want to remember.

"The element they did like was the overall versatility such a vehicle gave them.

"From a design perspective, we had to take the strengths of an SUV and drive those elements the customers liked into a design that had a lot of car-like attributes as well."

Butterworth said he and Exterior Design Manager Graham Wadsworth focussed on three key areas for the exterior design of Territory.

Strength

Butterworth said incorporating the strength of a traditional SUV into Territory was a key element of the exterior design.

"We had a really frantic period of time where we devoted a lot of time to really strengthening the exterior design.

"We had some healthy discussions with Ford Design Vice President J Mays, who was very supportive of getting this strength and Ford DNA into Territory.

"That meant we were able to improve the stance of the vehicle, making the attitude and body section much stronger.

"The final design has an inert poise, an athletic stance, emphasised by the short front and rear overhangs.

"One of the real attributes of Territory is just how good the rear of the car looks; it has a presence that many vehicles in this class just don't have."

Butterworth said while incorporating strength was a key component, it was just as important to maintain a clean design.

"We worked hard to make a connection with what was happening on the front end and mirror that at the rear. This is typified by the way the cut line runs through the body.

Butterworth said he likened Territory to a runner on the starting blocks.

"There's strength and a latent, muscular feel about a runner. We wanted to incorporate some of that latent potential into the side view.

"The cut line of the rear bumper relates well to forward motion, which is very important from a design perspective."

Butterworth said Territory was a vehicle designed to appeal to a youthful market.

"Buying into Territory is all about youthful lifestyle and there's just a bucket load of what the Australian lifestyle offers in this vehicle.

"That's something we really wanted to use from a design philosophy point of view. Looking at the subtle changes of the vehicle from initial design to the last round of research, I believe we have hit the button big time."