2015 Ford Everest 78

Ford is aiming very, very high indeed with its new Ranger-based seven-seat SUV, the Ford Everest. CarAdvice reports that the company doesn’t consider similar pick-up-derived offerings from other manufacturers – like the Toyota Fortuner – as equivalent competitors, but instead is looking to rub shoulders with such esteemed company as the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado!

According to Ford Australia president and CEO Graeme Whickman, the Everest will not be marketed as a SUV version of the Ranger; rather, it will attempt to challenge the much more upmarket Prado.

“It’s not a ute [pick-up] based competitor. If you want to put it in front of a [Holden] Colorado 7 or whatever you want to put there, it’s not in that space,” he said. “Without being too specific, you know that the Prado was in our minds when we were engineering the vehicle.”

Pricing for the new Everest in Australia seems to affirm Ford’s bullish target – it ranges from AUS$54,990 (RM168,100) for the base Ambiente all the way to AUS$74,990 (RM229,300) for the range-topping Titanium.

That’s ambitious next to the Prado’s range of between AUS$51,990 (RM159,000) for the GX and AUS$84,490 (RM258,300) for the top-spec Kakadu, although the Prado has less expensive five-seater models that the Everest lacks.

2013 Toyota Prado Kakadu

Ford aims for the new Everest to beat the more upmarket Toyota Land Cruiser Prado in Australia

And the Everest won’t have everything its own way in this uphill battle. It’s smaller, for one – 4,892 mm long, 1,860 mm wide and 1,837 mm tall as opposed to the Prado’s 4,930 mm length, 1,885 mm width and 1,880 mm height – although its 2,850 mm wheelbase does trump the Prado’s 2,790 mm.

More pressing, at least for Australia’s rural outback buyers, is the fact that the Everest only has a single 80 litre fuel tank; the Prado’s relocated (to the tailgate) spare tyre enabled the fitment of both an 87 litre main tank and a 63 litre auxiliary tank, ideal for major long-distance journeys like those many Aussies traverse.

Whickman, however, doesn’t believe that would be an issue to buyers. “There’s horses for courses in terms of the specification and some of the engineering behind it, and the attributes of the vehicles. There might be a number of things I could pitch to you Prado doesn’t [have or do], but it doesn’t feel like a constructive discussion.

“If you’ve got a point of view, that’s fine. But at the end of the day we’ve pitched it into the market, we think that we can go head to head, and ultimately the proof will be in the pudding,” he said.

We’ve driven the new Ford Everest already, and although it’s early days to decide if it can justify the premium billing (and price, estimated to be between RM180k and RM240k in our market), it’s certainly a cut above the current crop of pick-up-based SUVs, even if the latest Fortuner and Mitsubishi Pajero Sport have yet to be tested. Read what we think of Ford’s latest offering here.

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