Ford and Illinois Governor Pat Quinn will make the official announcement at the factory today, but Quinn told reporters in Chicago yesterday that 1,200 jobs are to be added.
"Tomorrow, in one day, we're going to get 1,200 new jobs for Illinois," Quinn was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
Ford is creating a new pathway for the new Explorer, as the automaker wants the car to be become “greener”. The fuel economy and CO2 emissions figures should be reduced by 20-25 %. To achieve this, the car will drop its current truck frame and it will most probably be underpinned by the same platform as the Taurus sedan. In addition to that the engine range will see the introduction of two efficient powerplants. The first one will be a 2.0 liter turbocharged 4 pot Ecoboost engine, while seconded by a 3.5 liter turbocharged V6.
Just to have an idea, the concept which offered a preview of the car was 4.8 m long, 2m wide and 1.7 m tall. This is quite a change compared to the current Explorer’s dimension: the Explorer America (concept) has a 5 cm longer wheelbase, is 5 shorter overall, has a 15 cm increased width and is 8 cm lower. Despite the changes Ford says that the Explorer America is lighter that a 2010 Explorer V6.
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