Julie Levine and Julie Rocco have been working on the 2011 Ford Explorer for a long time. They can’t say exactly how long because that would let competitors know too much about the company’s development cycles. “It’s safe to say it took years,” Levine says.
The pair were charged with reinventing the long-in-the-tooth SUV — giving it a total makeover that went beyond the cosmetic surgery that in the auto business often passes as a redesign.
Two things you notice in the Explorer, at least in the prototype the company displayed, is how tightly the parts fit together and the way the doors and dashboard flow into each other. A stereo speaker in the door panel matches the colors and tapered shape of an adjacent air vent on the instrument panel. The clutter of knobs and buttons typical of modern cars is gone. One large, familiar rotary knob controls the radio volume, but most of the controls are on touch screens. This gives the dashboard a clean flat-panel look similar to the “glass cockpit” setups in modern aircraft.
People often ask why almost every vehicle has a tachometer, or rev counter displaying engine speed in revolutions per minute. They make sense in sports cars because drivers often want to shift gears when the engine reaches a certain speed. People who tow or haul heavy loads in pickup trucks might want to know how fast their engine is turning when trying to pick the right gear for ascending or descending a hill.
But do the minivans, crossover utilities and economy cars with automatic transmissions really need tachometers? When are they ever driven to the limit? The Explorer’s “tach” appears on an electronic screen only when you want it. Otherwise fuel economy and other trip data can be displayed there.
Mainly the two tried to make sure the new Explorer had the feel of a reliable high-quality tool, from the way the doors shut to how buttons feel when you press them. There should be a fair amount of resistance, followed by a solid, confirming click. The Julies say such details cost them a lot of sleep. We’ll see this winter if it was worth the trouble.
For an inside look at the Ford Explorer, go here.