New China-only Ford Equator Is A Glimpse The Company’s Future Design Language

• The Equator is a little shorter than the current Explorer.

• It debuts a new platform that should find its way into more Ford products.

Ford, like many automakers, is a massive global player. They’ve just debuted the all-new Equator which is a China-only market vehicle. Normally, we’d not report on a product we’ll never see but in this case, the new Equator happens to provide a vision of Ford’s future design language.

China is a critical market for volume. In fact, it is the largest automotive market in the world. This kind of competition forces car companies to innovate and put their best foot forward. From what we can see in this video prepared by Wheelsboy, the new Ford Equator addresses a number of shortcomings, especially on the interior, that plague most current North-American Ford offerings.

The new Ford Equator’s exterior design cues borrow from today’s SUVs, namely the front grille, but ads new unique headlights in the bumper. From front to back, the Equator looks quite good. The real highlights however are onboard. From the door panels to the dashboard, there’s an attention to detail that is all but completely absent in the Explorer and others.

As noted in the video, the new Ford Equator is close in size to the Explorer. While it’s unlikely the next Explorer will shrink in size, it should be heavily inspired by the Equator. As least we hope so.