- after dropping it for 2015, ford has brought back the king ranch on 2020 expedition suvs as one of its top luxury trims.
- brown leather, two-tone paint, and lots of big badges designate the king ranch.
- pricing should hover near the expedition platinum's $74,760 base price.
as nation-size states, texas and california account for almost a quarter of the country's annual light-vehicle sales. that's two million apiece. but one state is a more fun and laid-back place to sell cars and trucks—especially trucks.
texas pays no mind to little cars. one of every five vehicles on texan roads is a pickup truck. nearly 25 percent of all new trucks sold in this country ship to texas. texans may see through special-edition trucks like the 2020 ford expedition king ranch, with their saddle brown leather and oversized badges, as marketing ploys seizing on their frontier heritage, but by all appearances they love them anyway. this two-tone suv is a tourism billboard rolling on 22s—and it guarantees ford one of the highest profit margins in its lineup.
ford says 20 percent of expedition shoppers are choosing the top-end platinum model, and 40 percent more choose the next level down, the limited. with expedition sales up 56 percent in 2019 so far, we can see where ford was going with the idea to resurrect the even fancier king ranch.
why ford had canceled the king ranch trim on its expedition lineup for the past five model years, while it left that good name going for the f-series, is a head scratcher. it chose platinum as the top trim instead. but now king ranch is back, with its origin story from the name of a real working texas ranch the size of rhode island and its name and logo that ford has licensed exclusively for 20 years. so of course it's branded on every seatback and floor mat and on the center console. it's plastered to every wheel center cap, plus on three more texas-belt-buckle-sized badges on the fenders and tailgate.
gray paint on the grille, lower bumpers, mirrors, power-deploying running boards, trailer hitch cover, and roof-rack side rails comes standard no matter what color the exterior paint is. inside, brown leather adorns the dash, steering wheel rim, and doors, along with more brown piping and stitching including for the second-row captain's chairs. zircote wood and more king ranch aluminum sill plates dress up the expedition to the max—well, not entirely max, as that's the extended-wheelbase version also available to king ranch buyers.
perhaps it doesn't match the decadence of ram's laramie longhorn. nor is it as fashionable and rich as its sister truck, the lincoln navigator. but even if you're not a texan, now you have more of a choice if you're hung up on these big fords.
ford didn't say whether the 2020 king ranch will top the platinum trim's $74,760 base price or give an exact on-sale date.