Apparently running out of precious metals with which to name their fancy crossovers (and not yet ready to bring the Vignale badge across the pond), Ford has created a Titanium Elite trim for the freshly revised Ford Edge.
And they say the world of crossovers isn’t exciting.
The 2019 model year brings a mid-cycle refresh for the popular Edge, with a few styling tweaks like snazzy new peepers and reshaped grille across all trims. A hot ST trim cranks the wick to 335 horsepower by way of Ford’s 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6 while angering fans of hot hatchbacks by desecrating the shred of enthusiast cred those two letters accumulated on the Focus and Fiesta.
This new Titanium Elite builds on the existing Titanium trim by adding unique 20-inch wheels, distinctive body-color sides, a premium-looking rear skid plate, and, erm, that seems to be it.
Naturally, this fancy brother will come with standard equipment found in the now admittedly workaday Titanium. Standard equipment includes a raft of driver-assist technologies including Ford’s Blind Spot Information System with Cross Traffic Alert, lane keeping, forward collision warnings, and the other usual crop of safety nannies.
For 2018, the Edge Titanium starts at $35,930 with a check-all-the boxes example cresting $50,000 before incentives. Expect to pay a small premium for the Elite badge, given that it doesn’t exactly bring a host of extra kit.
It’s interesting how Ford positions the Sport, and presumably the ST when it arrives, as the Edge’s range-topper. The Sport currently represents a $2,000-ish premium over the Titanium when the two are comparably equipped. Pricing for the new 2019 range hasn’t been announced yet.
Another conversation worth having is Ford’s apparent reluctance to craft a high-dollar, high-profit trim that it can apply across its line. GMC lines its coffers with Denali Dollars, while corporate cousin Buick is seeking to perform the same trick with its new Avenir line. Sure, the Vignale name currently only resonates with UK buyers, given the nameplate’s history in that market, but it wouldn’t be a stretch to offer the same trim here in the States.
The Ford Edge Vignale almost reads like a visitor from a parallel reality, one in which the Canuck-built Edge is offered with a diesel engine and is the most expensive Ford on sale, save for the superb GT and biggest Transit vans. Both those facts are true in the UK market.
Either Ford doesn’t want to tread on Lincoln’s toes or it worries about Americans not being able to pronounce the name, a fate which lead to the demise of Merkur. The Vignale trim has shown up on machines as varied as the Edge, S-Max people carrier, and Mondeo sedan.
A quick check of Ford UK’s build & price tool reveals a £44,710 for a fully loaded example, converting to $62,055USD at current exchange rates. Even given the general price bump for UK cars, an Edge Vignale would have to add a lot more than rims and body-color sides to command that premium. In the UK, it does, furnishing its occupants with the zenith of Ford plushness.
For the record, this author pronounces it Vig-nall-ee. You?
Anyone who happens to venture out to the Chicago Auto Show next week will find a production version of the Ford Edge Titanium Elite on display. Copies will wend their way into showrooms later this year.
[Images: Ford Motor Company]
You can never have enough marketing names in the USA. Ford Edge Titanium Elite d’Elegance Platinum Texas High Country edition is coming next, and it will make a .0002 increase in transaction prices and be deemed a success.
This wagon looks conservatively decent, but it also looks like it could be a Hyundai or one of the millions of new Chinese CUV’s being announced every day over at carnewschina. I guess more names is all Ford can do to differentiate.
Also, that interior looked great when it debuted 8 years ago. Now it looks 8 years old.
When you run out of substance, there is always the name mine.
We know the cake is old BUT LOOK AT THAT FROSTING!
I shall grow to love this just as I did the Ford Torino Elite.
The original Ford Elite is absolutely magnificent.
Please bring back the Lipstick and Creme and Gold packages. Please bring back the Lipstick and Creme and Gold packages. Please bring back the Lipstick and Creme and Gold packages. Please…
TRIPLE BROWN
hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/ford/gran-torino/1995491.html
Get off my lawn.
This yields the same sensation as seeing an item for sell with a huge sale banner on it.
But the normal price is only one penny more.
I suppose we should be thankful that this Elite doesn’t come with twin opera windows and wide bodyside moldings that match a vinyl roof.
Honda already uses the Elite badge for the top level Pilot and Odyssey. It seems strange for Ford to use the name again, even if Ford had it first 40 years ago.
Ford Santa Fe?
It looks like the unbranded generic copyright-free car that insurance and car rental banner ads use.
Actually, for something that’s supposed to be a high-design car, the interior of the Edge has always looked extremely generic, like Fisher Price or Playskool was commissioned to do it.
For a great low rate you can get online, go to The General and save some time!
Elite translates to Lincoln in Aramaic.
Funny.
Or, Ford Big Bucks Special.
Perhaps it’s time Ford to dip into the world of fictional elements, as in Ford Edge Adamantium painted in Dilithium Crystal Silver.
A lot get said about the 1%, but in reality the upper middle class (say top 3 to 15% of household income) are the taste makers of our society. They flat out eat up and ask for seconds on this kind of “trim level inflation,” because on one hand they can demure their resources by saying “I drive a Ford,” but still wage war with the other folks that inhabit whatever passes for a country club these days.
GM screwed Cadillac into irrelevancy by trying to go toe-to-toe with Mercedes and BMW with nearly unique platforms, and losing the distinctive “Americaness” Cadillac once had. This left ample room to go after upper middle class dollars with higher trim levels at GMC and Buick.
Lincoln, on the other hand, has remained (and frequently gets excoriated for being) largely an upper trim level of Ford. It’s super easy to match up the Lincoln-Ford siblings, even if you’re not very car savvy. I think that’s why Ford is reluctant to go “full Denali” on their line, and also putting so much effort into making the Lincoln interiors truly special.
The older I get, the less enthused I am about new cars, and in fact am letting all my auto mag subscriptions lapse (you should see the dramatic letters I’m getting, weekly).
3 YEARS FOR $9.99! (I can imagine.)
Reminds me of the time Motor Trend called my Uncle Tim – I swear the man ended up with a 5 year subscription for a per year price of less than what a single issue would cost.
“The older I get, the less enthused I am about new cars, and in fact am letting all my auto mag subscriptions lapse”
I was just having that very conversation with myself the other day. It seems the magazines are full of articles that are breathlessly full of themselves over amazingly trivial things, much in the same way that the smartphone world has become. I mean really, who cares if the case is 0.002″ thinner and the edges are rounded 0.03 degrees more, “making for a significantly more comfortable fit in the hand”? They’re all slabphones
And for cars–they’re all becoming the same thing, out of regulatory necessity (see the Civic/Accord twins, aka “Honda medium” and “Honda large”) or customer preference (SUVs). I mean seriously, the SUV thing is exactly like the slabphone thing–they are so much they same, they’re indistinguishable.
And the magazine articles come across similarly ridiculously as they desperately try to create some sort of story trying to describe how one mass market family hauler is different from anyone else’s, when they’re not.
Bottom of the Range: Ford Edge
Next step up: Ford Edge Mercury edition
Next step up: Ford Edge Edsel edition
Next step up: Ford Edge Lincoln edition
Next step up: Ford Edge Lincoln Designer Series.
Repeat for all other Ford Models.
Why only metals? Why not Ford Lithium, Boron, Krypton or Xenon. There are many things left on the periodic table (not the lunar kind). Or they personalize it to what ever medications you are taking. Ford Prozac…
“…desecrating the shred of enthusiast cred [ST] accumulated on the Focus and Fiesta.”
Because SRT has no credibility since being used on SUVs? AMG and M ended up on utilities as well, are they now worthless? One could argue that M has indeed lost credibility, but not because they applied it to a utility.
ST stands for Sanitary Towel.
Except the old Toyota Celica ST, where it stood for Secretary Transport.
I still want to know why the Edge even exists. Are the Expedition, Explorer, and Escape not enough? And Ford is going to divert more money into “UVs”. Too many vehicles in the lineup dilutes the whole line, in my opinion.
The Edge and Explorer are medium-sized, but the Edge was designed with 2-row seating which means it’s roomier for the back seats. It’s supposed to be a more design-focused car, too, like the Murano or the CLS versus the Pathfinder or E-class.
Go to Target and there’s like 20 types of toothpaste for sale.
It’s all dumb.
The cereal aisle gets me, too many choices, I can buy a car faster than I can pick out cereal.
Moving to Venezuela is always an option. Socialism taken to it’s natural conclusion will wring the choice right out an economy, every time.
I’ve noticed this, too. I don’t want some dystopian society where we have gray boxes of cereal with block letters on the box that say “CEREAL”. But I also think as a consumer whore society we have way too much being bombarded at us, giving us the illusion of choice, while we all get paralyzed from trying to make the “right” decision.
I’ve found the Edge to be much more roomier in the back seat than the Explorer, both are virtually identical up front though.
“I still want to know why the Edge even exists”
That’s a good question. I’ve been asking since it was introduced.
The Edge is nothing more than roomy escape. The edge has a mediocre 4WD system just like the escape and can only tow as much as the Escape. The Edge is completely pointless. At least do something to differentiate it from the Escape in terms of capability. Give it low range, give it a 4500 pound tow rating. Something!
The Edge makes perfect sense. The Escape is too small for an infant child seat behind a front passenger with any kind of height; the Explorer is overkill. Citing a lack of off road prowess to a car aimed at suburban mothers is about as clear of a demonstration of your lack of understanding of the market as I could come up with.
The thing is the entire CUV/SUV lineup is aimed at suburban pavement pounders. So why does one need three very similar models that do almost the same thing? Now they have the Echosport that does even the samer thing, just with less size and more cheapness. It’s really the same logic that prompted the end of the entire Mercury brand – redundancy.
Different price points. And they don’t all do the same thing. The Escape is a lot smaller and cheaper than the Edge. Ecosport is cheaper and smaller than the Escape (and I could see it being popular in cities where parking is difficult). The Explorer has 3 rows, which none of the others have. It’s no different than mainstream manufacturers having a lineup of different priced and sized sedans- except people are actually buying crossovers. It’s pretty obvious why Ford has a full crossover lineup… if anything, they should consolidate their sedans.
“The Escape is too small for an infant child seat behind a front passenger with any kind of height”
But I thought compact crossovers were what all small families needed! All that room!
@EBFlex
It’s a roomy Escape. There you go.
jfb43: “I still want to know why the Edge even exists”
EBFlex: “That’s a good question. I’ve been asking since it was introduced.
The Edge is nothing more than roomy escape. The edge has a mediocre 4WD system just like the escape and can only tow as much as the Escape. The Edge is completely pointless.”
Why does the Escape even exist? It’s nothing but an Edge but without the roominess. The Escape is completely pointless.
See how that works?
I went to school with a girl named Titanium Elite, well that was her stage name the last time I ran into her anyway.
I met her older fake hot sister, Deb. Her nickname was STD.
Yeah, STD was LTD’s sister.
Or maybe LTD was her pimp, I’m not sure.
I realize this will never be a choice for me, but the tail light position just looks ridiculous. You can still block 91% of visibility with poor design and place the taillights at a natural position level with the headlights.
I’ve borrowed a friend’s 15 Edge and have found it to be an awkward size with strange visibility characteristics. The bit in front reminds me slightly of a toilet bowl and that the hood appears to go up at a slight angle before going back down. Then the A-pillars are ginormous and the rear visibility leaves a lot to be desired. I’m usually more comfortable in my friend’s F150 for the few occasions I need something bigger than my Mazda. The Escape I had briefly was much more user friendly in terms of sightlines.
For the record when I read Vignale I think Vin-yall-ee