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Ford introduces next-generation, Police Interceptor Utility Hybrid - the industry's first pursuit-rated hybrid SUV


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Fuel consumption on current PI's is abysmal...this may be good news..but not sure i would ever trust a battery for rural patrol....course this being ford next week everything gets pushed back to 2026..

? It is still going to have a gas engine that can propel the vehicle; it is a hybrid, not fully electric.

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Fuel consumption on current PI's is abysmal...this may be good news..but not sure i would ever trust a battery for rural patrol....course this being ford next week everything gets pushed back to 2026..

Its a hybrid not a BEV. As long as you dont forget to put gas in, you wont be stranded.

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I trust you've had no problems with fumes entering the cabin?

This is in fact not the case...i had a co2 detector in the cabin..even after the tailpipe retrofit dam thing still alarmed on occasion....i tossed it out one day and solved the problem by keeping driver side window rolled down year round...i can hear shit better that way so its a win-win

Edited by snooter
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Seems odd, for such an important vehicle, to have blown their wad by showing the PIU first (even as dark as they did).

That was my point. Why not wait until the Explorer reveal?

 

Makes you wonder who is making these PR decisions. Whoever it is, they need somebody else.

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That was my point. Why not wait until the Explorer reveal?

 

Makes you wonder who is making these PR decisions. Whoever it is, they need somebody else.

 

I'm with you. When I first saw it pop up at Autoblog, I thought it was a typo and was supposed to be an update on 2019 models before realizing it was indeed the 2020.

 

I just wonder how many PR gaffes they can continue to make....ever since NAIAS two years ago, it's been one WTF/throw your hands up and scratch your head move after another. It's as if there's no thought given to the decisions they make or how they'll be received.

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This is in fact not the case...i had a co2 detector in the cabin..even after the tailpipe retrofit dam thing still alarmed on occasion....i tossed it out one day and solved the problem by keeping driver side window rolled down year round...i can hear shit better that way so its a win-win

 

1950's AC. Brilliant...

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I'm with you. When I first saw it pop up at Autoblog, I thought it was a typo and was supposed to be an update on 2019 models before realizing it was indeed the 2020.

 

I just wonder how many PR gaffes they can continue to make....ever since NAIAS two years ago, it's been one WTF/throw your hands up and scratch your head move after another. It's as if there's no thought given to the decisions they make or how they'll be received

 

That is an understatement, the full PR team should be fired at this point. Ford has some great product coming and the PR team is going to sink it before it gets here.

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Car and Driver posted this story too. They basically said here is your 2020 Ford Explorer in police guise.

 

Ford has screwed the pooch lately on releasing things (GT500 and Mach One come to mind). Marketing/PR is pretty weak right now. Is marketing/PR an internal department or is that farmed out like advertising?

 

Just thinking out loud, I wonder if Hackett escalating certain products made the timelines change so much that it is wreaking havoc on release plans? You need to be able to nimble enough to adapt if that is the case. Otherwise you look like a monkey trying to **** a football. It's a catch 22 now. Ford can either rush their new product out and "hopefully" catch any issues or keep delaying the product with weak slideshows and CGI videos while continuing to sell old withering products.

 

 

 

When should the new Explorer be hitting the lots?

Edited by jcartwright99
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Car and Driver posted this story too. They basically said here is your 2020 Ford Explorer in police guise.

 

Ford has screwed the pooch lately on releasing things (GT500 and Mach One come to mind). Marketing/PR is pretty weak right now. Is marketing/PR an internal department or is that farmed out like advertising?

 

Just thinking out loud, I wonder if Hackett escalating certain products made the timelines change so much that it is wreaking havoc on release plans? You need to be able to nimble enough to adapt if that is the case. Otherwise you look like a monkey trying to **** a football.

 

When should the new Explorer be hitting the lots?

 

The press release said it'd be available next summer, so I guess a year or so from now?

 

Changing timelines wouldn't affect a decision to show a police version of an all new vehicle. Is some sort of large contract coming up that they felt the need to go "hey, just wait, look what we have coming for you!" to police departments? Even so, I still don't understand why you'd release them backward.....or show them simultaneously. I'd have been ok with this if it were a better teaser - like nearly completely blacked out to where you can't make out too many details except maybe the roofline or something, but showing as much as they did seems like :idea:

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That was my point. Why not wait until the Explorer reveal?

 

Makes you wonder who is making these PR decisions. Whoever it is, they need somebody else.

 

They really didn't reveal very much, but they did get enough info out there for police departments to consider it for next year. The average consumer that is going to actually buy an Explorer (like my wife) isn't going to pay attention or care about a press release about a police car.

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Someone complained the tail lights look the same. It's not the 50s or 60s, where buyers want goo goo, ga ga over annual style change.

 

Ask any new SUV driver if they care about that, and it's who cares? Now it's "does it have Apple Car Play, etc.?"

 

Maybe at a collector car auction, details like annual head/tail style identity will determine value, but not the new car market today.

Edited by 630land
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They really didn't reveal very much, but they did get enough info out there for police departments to consider it for next year. The average consumer that is going to actually buy an Explorer (like my wife) isn't going to pay attention or care about a press release about a police car.

 

Yep... budgets for next fiscal year's police car purchase has to be finalized soon. Ford's fleet guys are out there right now talking to all the big agencies about performance specs and likely price so they don't jump ship to Dodge. Getting word out that PIU will be a hybrid helps the fleet buyers justify the likely price increase - so they have time to get all the contracts approved by potentially skeptical municipal council.

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Someone complained the tail lights look the same. It's not the 50s or 60s, where buyers want goo goo, ga ga over annual style change.

 

Ask any new SUV driver if they care about that, and it's who cares? Now it's "does it have Apple Car Play, etc.?"

 

Maybe at a collector car auction, details like annual head/tail style identity will determine value, but not the new car market today.

 

But on an all new model, it should look different.

 

That said, I'll reserve judgement until seeing the whole thing revealed. I also wonder if it's possible for PIU-only taillights? Beyond that, though, I'm seeing more of a "C" shape to the lights as opposed to the square that the current ones have (the brake lights are a square surrounded by the turn signal/reverse light).

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Nobody is paying attention to this except for Police Agencies and that's probably all Ford cares about, even though we all know what a big deal some of this information really is.

 

I have seen the 2020 Explorer and PUI and indeed it does look quite a bit like the current vehicle, but lower, longer, leaner, and wider. The lower fascia reminds me of a Navigator crossed with a 2019 Edge vibe if that makes any sense, it's the most distinctively new visual feature of the front-end actually since the grille and headlights essentially look like an Evoque or Velar...I think it's very sharp looking. Those ARE the final taillights for those questioning it, they do look oddly carried over...even though they are new components. The back-end is less boxy and more swept back but with a wider hip/shoulder with terminates at the bulging taillights (similar to the current vehicle but a little more defined). They essentially made the Explorer look a bit more exotic and even more like the modern Range Rovers. I'm not thrilled by what it is obviously a lower ride height and hip point, but it should make those Flex owners happy. Like the 2nd gen MKX/Edge, the new generation also chopped down the roof quite a bit so I'm not so sure about headroom...that signature boxy roofline above the windshield is much more 'vestigial' now...but it's there. I'm actually really curious about passenger spaciousness, it looks small but it could just be that the hip-points are much lower on this platform because of the longer wheelbase.

Edited by Assimilator
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Nobody is paying attention to this except for Police Agencies and that's probably all Ford cares about, even though we all know what a big deal some of this information really is. ........

 

 

 

Normally, I would say you are correct. However, it's been plastered on every major auto site on the web and even the little ones too. Just go look at Car and Driver if you don't believe me. So anyone reading those, is getting there first glimpse or bits of info there and NOT through Ford itself.

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