The Ford Territory 2021 is a $36,000 Chinese EV with an Australian twist

China’s Ford Territory electric SUV has been updated for 2021, with the brand fitting its affordable EV with a bigger battery pack that delivers more range.

The update Chinese Territory EV gets a new 60.4 kWh battery delivering a 435km range on the NEDC cycle (up 75km on the model it replaces), with its electric motor now firing out 120kW and 280Nm.

The brand has also cooked up a new heating system – a heat pump air conditioner – that not only wards off the freezing Chinese winters, but increases cold-weather driving range by up to 50km.

The updated EV is a tech-savvy offering, too, with a 10.0-inch touchscreen that’s joined by a 10.25-inch digital driver display, and a smartphone key that means owners can remote start the Territory and switch on the climate control.

It’s also very cheap. With the most affordable model starting at just over $36,000 grand when local incentives are taken into account, while the more expensive version starts at just over $39,000.

But perhaps the biggest news for Australian readers is the nameplate, with the Territory badge once applied to a homegrown SUV built Down Under.

The two Territorys are completely unrelated.

Our Ford Territory launched in 2004 and sold until 2016, and was built on the Ford Falcon platform, with the SUV cancelled in the wake of the shuttering of local manufacturing in Australia.  

Interestingly, the new Territory was at least partly developed by Ford’s R&D team in Melbourne. But despite Ford describing it as a global car, there is no plan to launch the new electric Territory locally.