- New ‘Capri’ SUV will join Ford Explorer in the carmaker’s European range.
- Sporty SUV coupe will share the same VW MEB platform and compete with ID.5.
- Production at Cologne, Germany, plant starts later this year; Capri name not confirmed.
Ford told its American dealers to pause EV investments last month in the face of slow demand for electric cars. But in Europe the Blue Oval is getting ready to roll out its second electric compact SUV on July 10, and this one could wear a resurrected Capri badge.
The new SUV is a sister car to the European Ford Explorer unveiled last year and will be built at the same Cologne plant and from the same VW MEB platform used by the Wolfsburg company’s ID cars. But while the boxy Explorer is aimed at the ID.4, the new EV gets a fastback body and targets the ID.5.
Related: Ford Capri Electric Coupe-SUV Spied Riding On VW ID.5 Gear
Ford hasn’t confirmed the July 10 launch date reported last week by Automotive News, or whether it will resurrect the Capri name for the coupe-SUV, as various news stories have suggested. When it teased the EV in March 2022 alongside the electric Puma and Explorer, it referred to it only as the “sport crossover.”
Although the Capri name has been used many times on different cars from the Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury brands over the past 70 years, Europeans know it best from the Cortina-based Capri coupe that was the continent’s equivalent to Ford of America’s Mustang and sold between 1969 and 1986.
Advertised by Ford as “the car you always promised yourself,” the classic Capri was a simple rear-wheel drive two-door coupe with a four- and six-cylinder engine lineup that ranged from 1.3 to 3.1 liters, and 50 to 150 hp (51-152 PS).
The new one will be rather more powerful and is likely to be offered with the same choice of 282 hp (286 PS / 210 kW) single-motor and 335 hp (340 PS / 250 kW) bi-motor powertrains as the Explorer. The single-motor, rear-wheel drive Explorers get to 62 mph (100 km/h) in 6.4 seconds and come with a 77 kWh battery that’s good for a 354-mile (570 km) range, while the dual-motor AWD version hits 62 mph in 5.3 seconds and can travel 329 miles (529 km) on their slightly larger 79 kWh packs.
We asked Ford to confirm the July 10 launch date and have yet to hear back. We’ll update this story if we get an answer.
