Ford has filed for three new trademarks in Europe incorporating the word “Energi” – the badge worn by its plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The news gives us some insight into what form several of its thirteen forthcoming electrified vehicles will take.
The three names are: “Explorer Energi”, “Kuga Energi”, and “Transit Energi”. Ford announced a plug-in-hybrid version of its Transit Custom van last January, while also sharing the news of six other forthcoming electrified nameplates (including Mustang, F-150, and a pair of police pursuit vehicles). But the Transit is a separate model from the Transit Custom, and electrified versions of the Explorer full-size CUV and Escape/Kuga compact CUV were not among those announced, so the prospect of those vehicles is news.
Of course, Ford offered hybrid versions of both the first- and second-generation Escape crossovers, but the automaker never bothered with the third-generation model.
We were unable to confirm whether Ford has filed for essentially the same trademarks (“Escape Energi”, “Explorer Energi”, “Transit Energi”) in the US, but it seems unlikely that all three models would not be offered stateside, as well. This means that American buyers can likely look forward to plug-in versions of the Escape, Explorer, and the Transit by 2020.
(Source: Autocar)
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