Back in April 2022, Ford announced that it was bringing a familiar nameplate back – the Taurus – albeit in the Middle East, not the U.S., and only as a rebadged version of the Chinese Mondeo. However, the engineering team at Ford’s Product Development facility in Dubai subjected the Taurus to ambient temperatures as high as 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), which is critical for customers that live in a part of the world that routinely experiences searing heat, dust, sand, and other unique elements. Turns out, the latest version of the Ford Territory – which originally launched in the Middle East in late 2022 – was treated to the same sort of scientific testing.
The new Ford Territory Hybrid designed for the Middle East has been treated to some extreme heat testing in Dubai, in fact, where temperatures reached up to 72 degrees Celsius, by Ziyad Dallalah and his product development team. That group has driven the electrified model on city streets and slow-moving traffic, as well as across the desert sand, all in an effort to make sure that its powertrain cooling and climate control systems are up to the task. As Ford notes, driving on sand creates even more heat than normal roads, due to the fact that the engine and transmission must work harder to keep a vehicle moving on that type of surface.
“In simple terms, driving in deep, soft sand is like dragging a heavy weight around. That resistance you feel when you’re dragging that weight – it’s the same thing for vehicles in the desert,” Dallalah said. “Whether you’re based in Dubai, Durban or Darwin, you need to know that if you set the climate control to 15.5 degrees C, it’s going to deliver. CAD and CAE have really helped transform the way we design and engineer our vehicles. But nothing beats real-world testing to expose issues you didn’t anticipate. And, until you experience the kind of heat and conditions we get here, it’s hard to imagine just how that affects everything your vehicle needs to handle.”
In addition to the new Ford Territory Hybrid, The Blue Oval has added a bevy of products to its Middle Eastern portfolio amid record sales growth – including a hybrid version of the Taurus, the 2025 Ford Mustang Mach-E, the refreshed Ford F-150, the refreshed 2025 Ford Explorer, and the FordPass app.
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