Most of the innovation, however, was located inside the vehicle. Visteon supplied high-tech entertainment and lighting, and as Ford put it, “Those who travel with kids will appreciate the rechargeable hand vacuum cleaner built into the right rear trim panel.”
Bronco U260 (1999)
In the quarter-century gap between the end of the fifth production generation and the start of the sixth, Ford continued to create Bronco concepts. The U260 had an almost cuboid shape, and bears a remarkable resemblance to the current Bronco, which was introduced in 2021.
In the same year, the U260 was displayed in public for the first time, now with red rather than dual-coloured paintwork, and with a slightly revised front end.
MY Mercury (1999)
In Ford’s word, this concept – referred to as MY in the Heritage Vault but as (my) in a contemporary press release – “blurs the boundaries between a car, a truck and a sports utility vehicle”.
The door arrangement was similar to that of the slightly earlier Mercury MC4, while the top of the tailgate (which included the rear side windows) lifted upwards and the bottom extended back, giving a load length of over six feet if the rear seats were folded down.
Desert Excursion (2000)
Based on the enormous Excursion SUV, the Desert concept was “customized to take on the most extreme weather conditions and terrain”, and was described as “the ultimate go-anywhere, do-anything truck”.
Up to 310bhp was provided by a 6.8-litre V10 Triton engine, available in both the regular Excursion and the F-Series Super Duty pickup, which was based on the same platform. The front-end styling was unique to this vehicle, and the interior, which had enough room for six passengers, was reported to be weatherproof.
Equator (2000)
The Equator was another extreme off-road concept, this time based on the F-150 pickup. It had “off-road-racing-inspired independent suspension”, and the bumper, fender, wheel wells and lower trim panels were made of Kevlar.