The Ford Territory is a crossover SUV built by Ford Australia and based on the EA169 platform of the Ford BA Falcon. It was released in April 2004. Its code name inside Ford was E265. It won the 2004 Wheels Car of the Year award, the reviewers praising car-like handling and practicality as reasons for its win. Ford had reportedly spent A$500 million on developing the range over four years.
Ford introduced the Territory alongside the existing Falcon wagon, which was built on the same production line. Ford Australia senior executives expected the Falcon wagon to be discontinued soon after the introduction of the Territory, surmising that Falcon wagon sales would substantially decline as fleet buyers migrated to the Territory. However, the two models co-existed because the Falcon wagon retained much of its fleet sales base and the Territory appealed mainly to private buyers.
South African sales for the Territory began in 2005. Exports to Thailand began in 2006, with the Thai model being offered only in AWD Ghia trim.
Read more about Ford Territory: Ford R7 Concept, SX (2004–2005), SY (2005–2009), SY II (2009–2011), SZ (2011–present), Territory As An Emergency Vehicle, Yearly Australian Sales
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—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)