VW-Based Ford Explorer Ute Sounds About Digitally Right for a Maverick EV Truck

First and foremost, the company offered the modular EV architecture to all of its offshoots, including Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, and Skoda. But the architecture was probably always destined to live outside the core family to recoup the development costs better. As such, it was only logical for VW and Ford to extend their partnership outside the realm of commercial vehicles (Ranger-Amarok siblings are just an example) and into the world of zero-emissions vehicles.

After all, the Blue Oval company is adamant about its strategy to achieve carbon neutrality, and it needs to move as fast as possible to achieve its goals. Recently, they have pushed the accelerator pedal to the metal with the fresh, first-ever 2024 Ford E-Transit Courier that arrived as the smallest Ford Pro electric van and the attractive all-electric Explorer SUV. While it shares the same name as the larger model produced in the US and China, the latter is entirely different from the regular model series and only grabbed the nameplate for heritage purposes.

While the traditional Explorer is also offered as a 318-hp Hybrid at home in America and with a plug-in hybrid option in Europe that mates a 350-hp 3.0-liter V6, a 100-hp electric motor, and a 13.6 kWh lithium-ion battery for a combined rating of 450 hp, the new zero-emissions version is neither that powerful nor as focused on a hulking demeanor. Instead, the all-electric Ford Explorer has twinned with the Volkswagen ID.4 and ID.5 siblings, thus sharing their compact crossover SUV dimensions in a completely different styling package.

Some will still prefer the Volkswagen design; others might say this Blue Oval SUV is a breath of fresh styling air. But one thing is for sure, though. At least the latter has attained a superior level of hype, both in the real world and across the imaginative realm of digital car content creators. Over there, folks have started taking matters into their hands – or, rather, at the tip of their CGI brushes, making it either a five-door 'coupe' or transforming it into a practical EV pickup truck.

The virtual artist, better known as Theottle on social media, who has also resorted to CGI slicing and dicing the Explorer EV into adopting the pickup truck lifestyle, has been increasingly focusing on zero-emissions models as of late. As such, we have seen stuff like the Ford Fiesta EV, Volvo EX90 pickup truck, and a VW ID. 2all sedan, or the hypothetical Volvo EX60 crossover SUV before this new behind-the-scenes making-of video we have embedded below.

Interestingly, this Ford Explorer 'Ute' EV sounds the most intriguing, as the pixel master followed the Volkswagen connection and based his CGI transformation on the American Volkswagen Atlas Tanoak Concept, which long has been rumored to pave the way for a German electric pickup truck on the US market. Sure, the latter will arrive one day, but under the Scout banner rather than the VW one. Anyway, looking at the successful result of this digital project, it sure feels like Ford might have a winner here if it ever wanted to replicate the success of the compact Maverick unibody pickup truck in other regions – and with a fully electric twist. For now, though, this is all wishful thinking!