Ford announced Wednesday it is rolling out a new version of its Explorer SUV — the King Ranch Edition — with the “authenticity” of a Texas ranch and a made-in-Chicago label.
The Explorer King Ranch, set to hit showrooms in the spring, will be built exclusively at Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant on the city’s Southeast Side.
Ford has more than 5,200 hourly employees working three shifts at its Chicago plant. No new hires or retooling is expected to begin production of the King Ranch, Ford spokeswoman Kelli Felker said.
Named after a 168-year-old cattle ranch in southern Texas, the new SUV will feature a “rugged premium appearance” with leather and wood interior, a stone gray-painted mesh grille, 20-inch aluminum wheels and quad chrome exhaust tips.
The SUV will offer massaging seats, a 10-inch touch screen and a 14-speaker sound system. Prices will start at $52,350 for rear-wheel-drive and $54,350 for four-wheel drive.
The Explorer was the top-selling mid-size SUV in the U.S. last year with 226,217 vehicles sold, up 20.9% over 2019, the automaker reported.
In March 2019, Ford spent $1 billion to transform the nearly century-old Torrence Avenue plant, which phased out production of the Taurus sedan to focus on building SUVs, including the Ford Explorer, Lincoln Aviator and Police Interceptor.
The plant began building a redesigned Explorer in June 2019, but early production lagged projections amid some quality concerns.
Temporarily closed in March 2020 as the pandemic hit, the plant reopened in May and ramped up to full production. Ford switched over to building 2021 models at the plant in October.
During the first week of February, production scaled back to one shift because of an ongoing shortage of semiconductor chips that has slowed the global auto manufacturing industry. The plant returned to full production the following week, Felker said.
“It’s a fluid situation,” Felker said.
