Ford packs '15 Edge with technology

DETROIT-- Ford is touting the 2015 Edge crossover as a showcase for its latest technologies.

It will be the first Ford-branded vehicle offered with such features as adaptive steering, a 180-degree front camera, an enhanced parking assist system and a glove box airbag.

Ford showed the vehicle to journalists last week at a daylong preview here. A concept version was shown in November at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

The new vehicle is roomier, more powerful and more aerodynamic than the first-generation Edge, which debuted in 2006. Ford hopes to move the vehicle upscale.

"We're attracting new and affluent customers," said Joe Hinrichs, Ford's president of the Americas.

The Edge is to appear in U.S. dealerships early next year. Although it has been sold in a few foreign markets such as Canada and Latin America, the 2015 model will for the first time be exported from Ford's Oakville, Ontario, plant to such markets as China and Europe, the company said.

The Edge will go on sale in Europe in late 2015. Ford officials declined to say when it would go on sale in China. It will be sold in about 100 markets.

As part of the global rollout, the Edge will be made for the first time in right-hand drive versions. Ford will target versions by market. For instance, European customers will be offered only two diesel-engine versions, while U.S. customers will be offered no diesels.

The Edge is based on Ford's global CD platform, the same architecture on which the Fusion mid-sized sedan is built. Ford has redesigned the suspension to be stiffer to perform on par with premium brands on Europe's often twisty, narrow roads.

For the first time, the Edge will be offered in Ford's top Titanium trim level. The new adaptive steering feature, which varies the steering ratio depending on the vehicle's speed, will be standard on the Titanium version.