Ford Motor Company wrapped the 2023 sales tally in third place overall, with almost 2 million vehicles. It fell short, however, of the performance by Toyota (more than 2.24 million) and General Motors (nearly 2.6 million).
That doesn't mean it didn't have a few positive things to outline – the F-Series remains the best-selling nameplate overall, not just within the truck segment, followed at a distance by the Chevy Silverado, Ram trucks, Toyota RAV4, and the all-electric Tesla Model Y. Naturally, everyone and their mother expects FoMoCo to carry on with the F-Series legacy, especially since the Super Duty is an all-new design and the 2024 F-150 just got refreshed.
With eight models to choose from – XL, STX, XLT, Tremor, Lariat, King Ranch, Platinum, and Raptor (plus the mighty 2024 Raptor R that now cranks out 720 hp to defeat the outgoing 2024 Ram TRX), it's safe to say that there is something for everyone. In fact, starting with the facelifted F-150, Ford has chosen to make three design tiers for the pickup truck – XL, STX, XLT, and Tremor share a front fascia, the Lariat and King Ranch a second one, and the flagship Platinum and Raptor models a third one.
Hopefully, this will make the 2024 F-150 easier to recognize for the Blue Oval enthusiasts – though it could also confuse the general audience about who's who. Anyway, at least for now, it seems the reception is optimistic regarding the new redesign – at least from the imaginative realm of digital car content creators.
In fact, Dimas Ramadhan, the virtual automotive artist behind the Digimods DESIGN channel on YouTube, who recently took up the task of CGI-revealing the next Explorer CUV, was even directly inspired by the F-150 pickup truck. That's a bit odd because the latter is a body-on-frame model, and the Explorer had switched to a unibody architecture since 2011 when it also embraced the crossover SUV lifestyle.
Alas, even in the real world, the Ford Explorer is an odd nameplate – the sixth generation U625 co-exists as a plug-in hybrid based on the American model in Europe with the upcoming Ford Explorer EV that's a lot smaller and based on the Volkswagen MEB all-electric architecture. So, what if the Detroit-based company presented an all-new ICE-powered 2025 Ford Explorer that switched back to a body-on-frame SUV lifestyle and became the sport utility version of the 2024 Ford F-150 Tremor?
Meanwhile, the regular unibody Ford Explorer would be free to morph into an all-electric three-row crossover that would brawl with new models like the Kia EV9 in the near future. As for this unofficial vision, take it with a heavy dose of salt, as nothing is official from the Blue Oval company. However, no one says we can't vote if we like its F-150 Tremor-inspired design or not. After all, the current 2024 Explorer already includes a Timberline variant, right?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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