Ford Equator Sport trademarked Down Under, return of Territory?

The surprise uncovering of patent images has ignited speculation of the possible return of the Ford Territory in Australia.

Developed Down Under, based on the same platform as the Falcon, the original Territory became a runaway success in its home market where it stayed in production until 2016 when the Blue Oval ended local assembly operations after selling just under 180 000 units.

Since then, the moniker has featured on a rebadged version of the now discontinued Yusheng S330 in China and Brazil, which attracted controversy soon after its launch six years ago for resembling the Range Rover Evoque.

According to the mentioned trademark submission to Australia’s Intellectual Property Office though, performancedrive.com.au reports that the Territory is potentially up for a return, but as evident by the images, based on a different model than before.

In fact, the documents suggest the Territory will be spun-off of the Chinese market Ford Equator Sport, which debuted in October last year as the seven-seat version of the regular Equator thought at one point to be the new Everest.

Despite the patents potentially being filled simply as a means of securing the Equator Sport and indeed the Territory names without either being used, the publication reports that murmurings of a possible departure of the Escape could well lead to the Sport becoming its direct replacement.

ALSO READ: Missed chance? Ford Equator Sport revealed in China

At present, the Escape, otherwise known as the Kuga, is expected to benefit from a facelift within the coming months as evident by images published last month by Car and Driver of the Focus-based crossover undergoing testing.

Heightening speculation further is the presence of the Equator Sport being called Territory in export markets, however, at present, production only takes place in left-hand-drive.

The result of a joint partnership between Dearborn and Jiangling Motors Corporation (JMC), the Chinese-market Equator Sport derives motivation from a 1.5 EcoBoost petrol engine that punches out 125kW/260Nm, fed to the front wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox.

If approved for Australia, where it will plug the gap left in 2020 by the poor-selling Edge, renamed Endura, meant to have replaced the original Territory, the Equator Sport could potentially be earmarked for South Africa as replacement for the Kuga, given the moniker’s previous availability from 2005 to 2008.

In addition, it could be exported as the replacement for the cancelled C757 that would have used the same platform as the Mahindra XUV 700, but never materialised following the breakdown of the partnership between Ford and Mahindra last year.

Despite existing in trademark form for now, don’t be surprised if an announcement is made or details leaked possibly before the end of the year.