Ford buyers will soon have another Western-themed King Ranch-branded model to choose from. The company released a short preview video to announce the next addition to the range will make its debut on February 24.
Posted on Twitter, the six-second teaser asks more questions than it answers. It shows the outline of a car speeding towards the camera on a dirt road, and it cuts to a man’s hand moving a dial on a center console. The w-shaped King Ranch emblem that has appeared on numerous models for nearly two decades is visible at the end of the film.
While the video doesn’t reveal the car’s identity, there are several nameplates that we can safely rule out. Don’t expect to see a King Ranch variant of the electric Mustang Mach-E, for example. It’s not difficult to imagine a Bronco King Ranch, but the silhouette briefly shown at the beginning of the preview doesn’t match the off-roader’s. Bronco Sport? Yeah, it’s possible, but its center console doesn’t look like the one flashed in the video.
Something big is coming to the ranch. 🗓 February 24. pic.twitter.com/bhYuAxyPBP
— Ford Motor Company (@Ford)
February 22, 2021
We’re fairly certain the Explorer is next in line to receive the King Ranch treatment. If that’s accurate, we expect the upmarket trim will receive a handful of specific exterior accents (like new-look wheels) plus brown leather upholstery and wood trim in the cabin. It won’t be cheap, but it will offer motorists a relatively long list of standard equipment. For context, the well-equipped Expedition King Ranch starts at $72,735, a $22,740 increase over the base model.
We won’t have to wait long to learn more. Ford will introduce its next King Ranch-badged model online tomorrow (Wednesday), and sales will likely start for the 2022 model year. When it lands, and again assuming it’s indeed the Explorer, it will be joined in showrooms by a more rugged variant of the SUV badged either FX4 or Timberline.