▲ New Ford Explorer
Ford Explorer, a name that has been born for 30 years, is naturally young compared with the classic names in the automobile industry, but its experience in the past 30 years is comparable to that of extraordinary people-from the day it was born, Ford Explorer has been evolving with the goal of becoming a perfect three-row SUV, and every step of evolution is extremely firm.
"How to make a rebellious young man who is good at wading through mountains and rivers and loves rock climbing become a father who is as fast as a fly on the asphalt road? 」
Everything starts with the predecessor of the seeker. Although the history of Ford explorers can only be traced back to the 1990s 30 years ago, its predecessor is a well-known Ford model wearing a horse logo except the Mustang, which is a fierce horse with its front legs touching the ground and its hind legs raised and kicked back.
▲ As a company that likes to name its products with small animals, Ford obviously has more than one horse.
Just like many other SUV manufacturers like to flaunt that their products are the first in the industry and the originator of SUVs, although the heroic Mustang first appeared in August 1965-a scout of world brands, it was born later than the end of 1960, and there is also the Land Rover Defender's transatlantic predecessor, Willis CJ series, which was improved from American military vehicles after World War II-Ford has quite legitimate reasons to say.
These contemporary products mentioned above are either derived from trucks or improved from military vehicles. Hard shaft design and leaf spring with short stroke and high hardness are popular, but they are not suitable for urban road driving.
Bronco's designers used coil springs on their front axle. Although the coil springs in civilian cars are obviously commonplace now, in the United States in the 1960s, Bronco left a deep impression on the first generation of customers who bought SUVs that usually commute in cities and climb ditches in the countryside on weekends with excellent off-road performance and comfortable road performance.
The first application of spiral spring in SUV is the first proof that Ford is persistent in constantly tossing and constantly improving the hardware foundation to ensure driving comfort.
▲ Ford is very confident that the original Bronco can balance off-road conditions and daily road performance.
By the way, Ford will not admit that Jeep is the only creator of the American military vehicle Willis Jeep in World War II. In the bidding for military orders, a small company that remained independent at that time, Bantam, Ford and Willys-Overland, had three design prototypes. The bantam was the first large-scale order to complete the prototype test, but it could not support the military financially. Ford's GP model is the one with the highest output. The first batch was supplied to the US military instead of the allied forces, and the chassis design was also the best. Before the military finally unified the model design, Willys-Overland was favored by soldiers because of its strongest power.
In fact, when the US military unified military vehicle standards, this small jeep that eventually became the predecessor of Jeep CJ series had two names at the same time-
Willys MB and Ford GPW, Willys are company names, MB initials M refer to military orders, and B refers to an improved version of Willys original A design;
The GPW on Ford's side is that G is a government order, P is Ford's name for the 80-inch wheelbase of this model, and W is the design and mass production of military-controlled models started by Willis, but it still needs the support of Ford's large-scale assembly line, so Willis authorizes Ford to produce at the same time, and the final output ratio between the two is about 9:7.
In addition, the flat-headed engine cover and perforated seven-hole front face, which were later registered by Jeep as their own appearance patents, were first used by Ford's prototype Pygmy, and later used by Ford's production version GP. As for the name "Jeep", it also evolved from the pronunciation of the military vehicle model GP (actually Ford version) handed down by soldiers.
▲ The Ford GP prototype Pygmy in the initial test.
After explaining to Ford why they think they are the founders of modern SUVs, let's talk about the evolution from wild horses to explorers. The birth of Bronco can be said to meet the needs of American society in the 1960s.
On the one hand, the economic recovery and vigorous development of more than 20 years after the end of World War II have prompted people's desire for spiritual entertainment. In addition to the asphalt avenues of cities and highways, you can also meet a high-powered muscle car and a small carriage army led by another small horse and wild horse. The diverse gullies and hills and sandstone landforms between the vast North American plains and large farms are in urgent need of a generalist who commutes in the middle of the week and climbs rocks and washes sand on weekends. On the other hand, Willis MB and Ford GPW, veterans who have experienced wars, are favored by European battlefields or Southeast Asian peninsulas and Pacific battlefields, and the pleasure of all-terrain conquest is far from being satisfied by ordinary city cars.
Therefore, Donald Frey, the Ford product manager who put forward the idea of Mustang with Lee Iacocca (born in 1964, which was a great success), also put forward the original idea of Mustang. Good off-road ability must be combined with excellent road comfort. Simple body shape can provide three choices: convertible, hardtop and pickup truck-a scheme to provide free enjoyment of rural fun without sacrificing daily commuting needs.
By the way, Ford first put forward the concept of "sport utility vehicle" on this model, which is also the beginning of the abbreviation "sport utility vehicle" of modern SUV.
▲ Bronco, named by Ford as a "new sports car", uses "sports utility vehicle" as the model name of the pickup version.
After the birth of the wild horse, like its pony brother, the wild horse inevitably suffered a growing fate with competing products. From 1965, a unique platform car with a length of 3.85 meters, a wheelbase of 2.34 meters and a width of 1.74 meters, the second generation from 1977 began to be on the same platform as the full-size pickup truck Ford F series pickup truck. After several generations, it rose to 199 1, a large two-door SUV with a length of 4.66 meters and a width of 2.0 meters1,based on the full-size pickup platform of F- 150 (yes, you are right, the daily rock climbing needs must of course adhere to the two-door design);
Ford's research department found that young people in the 1980s, like their predecessors in the 1960s, also needed a compact, short and pithy SUV-naturally, another pickup platform of Ford besides the F-series full-size pickup truck-the platform of the medium-sized pickup truck Ranger was given this mission, and a Bronco II with a length of just over 4 meters was born;
▲ Bronco II, which has returned to its original point, is pure, compact and capable, and its target customers are young Americans at that time.
However, as the younger brother of the full-size brother Bronco, Bronco II is not the focus of this article, but the suspension of this car is what I want to say. When 1983 was born, Bronco II adopted a front suspension form invented by Ford for its F-series trucks in 1960s-"duplex beam" and later "double traction beam" (the difference between rear drive and four-wheel drive).
When it was born in the 1960s, this kind of suspension was an era ahead of the hard-axle integral suspension used by many competitors, and it was completely suitable for the mixed working conditions of urban roads and rural roads. Compared with the fully independent double wishbone and McPherson front suspension, the "double-beam" suspension has a longer stroke and is easier to cross mountains and ditches. Compared with the rigid axle integral suspension with similar stroke but novel design, it can be used on both sides.
This design has also become the advantage selling point of Ford pickup truck from the 1960s to the turn of the century. Another proof that Ford insists on constantly tossing and improving the hardware foundation to ensure driving comfort. ...
▲ "Duplex beam" and "double traction beam" became the killer weapon of Ford pickup trucks and SUV models from the 1960s to the end of the 20th century, taking into account off-road and highway performance to beat North American competitors.
The product life cycle of Bronco II didn't last long. In the late 1980s, the research department of Ford North America Company found that this SUV model was deviating from the original intention of personal commuting and weekend rock climbing for fun. More and more home users began to consider buying SUVs with more space and more comfort, instead of large cars (at that time, the medium and large car market in North America was still very hot, but then it began to decline, until the sales volume was almost eroded by the SUV market in the past decade. ) A four-door model that can easily sit down with a family instead of letting the family climb up and down from the upturned front row has taken shape.
1February, 990, Ford introduced the car name "Explorer" used by its F-series pickup truck in the 1960s, and named a four-door five-seat SUV model. This is the first generation of explorers who are unwilling to give up the two-door market. Ford still kept the two-door explorer and named it Explorer Sport.
▲ In the early 1990s, the advertisements of the first generation of explorers were still based on the consideration of rural off-road and urban roads.
The first generation of Ford Explorer is the U 1 non-loaded platform of the Ranger, a medium-sized pickup truck based on Bronco II. The front suspension with "double beam" and "double traction beam" was adopted to improve the driving comfort, but Ford, who is addicted to hardware, is obviously not satisfied with this.
The explorer, the second generation explorer born in 1994, changed the front suspension of the U 1 non-loaded platform into the form of double wishbone. Although it has lost some off-road capability, more and more SUV buyers are more suitable for the demand of urban cars at the turn of the century. By the way, 1997, the second generation explorer, added a third row of seats as an option. In recent years, Highlander, the second child of the three-row SUV in the North American market, is still three years away from its birth, and the seven-seat version is still seven years away.
▲ The second generation explorer who updated the "double-beam"/"double traction beam" front suspension into a double wishbone fully independent suspension.
However, the improvement of the front suspension by the second generation explorers is only the beginning of another pursuit of driving comfort. The third generation of explorers, who will appear in 2000 at the turn of the century, is the highlight of Ford. Although they are far ahead in North America, Ford's management decided to sell more explorers to the global market and still use the traditional non-loaded chassis. However, the research and development goal of driving comfort is to completely benchmark the first generation Lexus RX model, which was widely praised in the North American market at that time-the non-loaded vertical platform.
▲ As the third generation explorer at the turn of the century, Ford began to look to the European market and the Asian market.
Having said that, I have to mention another digression: most global car companies are generally based in local R&D centers. North American, European and Japanese brands were almost like this before the globalization wave began at the turn of the century, but Ford is a maverick. Readers who have read my articles in previous years should still remember that Ford is a global automobile company, which began to establish a dual-center layout in Europe and North America around World War II. There are some more powerful pickup trucks and SUVs and large-displacement powertrains in North America. Europe's stronger small and medium-sized cars, compact cars and small-displacement powertrains complement each other.
This time, the European Division has contributed three generations of Explorer models, and its driving performance and ride comfort are better than those of traditional European cars. By the end of 2000, three generations of explorers had improved the chassis, including but not limited to: four-wheel independent suspension, which was very rare for American traditional cars in the twentieth century. The frame with 350% torsional stiffness was improved, and the vertical and vertical yield strength were increased by 26% respectively. , constantly improve the hardware foundation to ensure driving comfort.
▲ Four generations of explorers who have improved one small step after another, the potential of non-loaded platforms is about to be squeezed to the limit by Ford.
In mid-2005, four generations of explorers came here. After great improvement, the three generations of explorers changed the frame supplier from Tower International to Magna, which further enhanced the rigidity of the frame, and further designed and improved the rear suspension, greatly reducing the influence of the rear suspension on the leg space of the third row. Many new electronic body stabilization systems and updated built-in DVD navigation systems have also significantly enhanced the daily usability of the four generations of explorers.
However, this time point is a little embarrassing for the four generations of explorers who have made progress here. The SUV with load-bearing body began to appear in the market in large numbers. Although there is basically no off-road performance, the towing performance that the American people love is incomparable with the natural power given by the non-loaded girder frame. And those non-luxury brands or brands close to luxury are all horizontal SUVs derived from car platforms. Obviously, compared with four generations of non-loaded explorers, it has inherent advantages in ride comfort. Even if the four generations of explorers rely on suspension design, shock absorption and damping improvement, they can't help but worry about the competitive situation faced by the next generation of models.
▲ Under the concept car with sci-fi effect, Ford announced that it would change the five generations of explorers into a load-bearing platform.
At the Detroit Auto Show in May 5438+2008 10, Ford exhibited a concept car called "Explorer America", which began to become somewhat rounded. In this case, Ford told the media that it would be a horizontal platform SUV with a Unibody body, Boooom, which is simply the end of the world for the explorer's "die-hard powder": explorers, how can they have no girders!
But the five generations of explorers who arrived at the end of 20 10 proved that the market welcomed this change very much. Five generations of explorers once again became the sales champion of large SUV in North America. This time, it relies on the internal seating space and trunk space after horizontally loading the crossover, as well as the same starting line with competitors in hardware, better driving experience and comfort in training, and the on-board system configuration that keeps pace with the times. At the same time, several EcoBoost engines with turbocharging technology also enable the five generations of explorers to maintain their power advantages over Japanese competitors and fuel consumption advantages over local competitors in North America.
By the way, this generation of explorers began to formally enter the China market. Chunmei is a big three-row imported car, not too weak four-wheel drive system and two-level powertrain, which makes it the sales champion of "three-row dad" car in the imported SUV market.
▲ Explorers sold several versions in China before and after the Five Dynasties, and the average monthly sales volume as imports remained at 1000 units.
At this point, the mustang who is good at rock climbing and the descendants of Ford GPW have become fathers flying on the asphalt road. ...
Preview: In today's article, we review the predecessor, origin and evolution from one generation to five generations of explorers-the brand-new sixth generation explorer, born from the layout of longitudinal engines and Ford's latest CD6 platform, is a more drastic transformation of this model-in "Ford Explorer's Past (Part 2)"
Text | |Jenwayz
Figure | Network
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