Ford’s Explorer badge might be a household name in the U.S. but it’s less well known in Europe. So to build awareness of the all-new, Europe-only Explorer EV Ford is jumping on the coattails of one of this summer’s most anticipated movies, one featuring one of the most famous explorers of all time.
The movie is Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the fourth Indiana Jones film in a series that stretches right back to 1981, and Ford has produced an Explorer EV advert that wheels out all the Indi tropes, starting with what Dr Jones’ trademark hat on the floor, followed by a shadow of Indi putting it on projected onto the Explorer’s door.
We also hear John Williams’ classic score, see shots that overlay Jones’ progress on the map with footage of the VW ID.4-based Ford driving through market towns, over arid deserts and along rocky coastal roads in Morocco, Spain, Sicily and Greece. It even has to swerve at one point to avoid a snake – the one thing the usually fearless archeologist can’t stomach.
Related: Ford Turns VW ID.4 Into Explorer EV For Europe
There’s not much footage or mention of the Explorer’s features except for one neat scene where the EV approaches a manned checkpoint in the Pyrenees and the driver stashes his book of treasure notes in a cubby on the center console, then pulls the 15-inch portrait infotainment screen down to cover it.
But while there’s plenty of airtime given to the Explorer in the 60-second slot, we’re left waiting for another Ford to make a cameo that never comes. Yes, I know the film is set in the 1960s, so it wouldn’t make sense for Harrison Ford’s Indi character to be in it, 82-year-olds aren’t exactly the demographic Ford is aiming at, and we have’t even consider how much cash he’d want to make an appearance, but still.
One explorer who will be enjoying an adventure in the new EV is influencer Lexie Alford (aka Lexie Limitless), who holds the record for the youngest person to visit every country in the world, and will be undertaking some kind of still-secret challenge in the electric SUV later this year.
The Dial of Destiny is in theaters at the end of this month, but the Explorer won’t be appearing at European Ford dealers until much later in 2023. Ford hasn’t released full technical details or prices yet, but we know that it will come with a choice of 54 kWh and 77 kWh batteries, and rear- or all-wheel drive powertrains, just like the ID.4.
