Ford has cut the price of the Explorer and Capri electric SUVs by around £5000 just a week after improving standard equipment levels and extending their ranges.
However, industry insiders have told Autocar that they're worried the move could have a knock-on impact on used car values, not just for Ford EVs but across the market.
The price of the Explorer has dropped by between £4035 and £4800, depending on spec, bringing the starting price down to £35,185 for the rear-driven 58kWh Style model.
The range-topping, four-wheel-drive, 77kWh Explorer Premium now costs less than £50,000. Before April it was nearly £54,000.
The price of the Capri has dropped by between £4080 and £5070, with the base 58kWh Style model now starting at £36,985.
In addition to the price cut, Ford has increased the equipment level and upgraded the battery of Standard Range cars to give them an additional 43 miles of range.
The extra kit includes an updated Sync infotainment system, uprated adaptive cruise control, a reversing assistant, a driver monitoring system and a three-pin outlet to power devices at up to 2.3kW.
Ford said the price cuts and upgrades were in response to the “highly competitive EV market”. Indeed, rivals including Tesla, Abarth and Vauxhall have made similar cuts in response to increased competition from cheaper rivals, notably those from Chinese brands.
The worry is that the price cuts could have a similar impact to Tesla’s slashing of Model 3 prices two years ago: a decrease in values of almost all used EVs. Since then there has been widespread uncertainty around used EV values.
A senior remarketing industry source told Autocar that Explorer values at the one-year-old, 10,000-mile point had already dropped by nearly 9% since December 2025, even before the latest new-car price cuts.
He added: “This could have a heavy impact on the market, because it sends out a shockwave through the leasing sector. It causes buyer caution, because they don’t know if there will be another cut, and that continues into used car values. People think [Ford] may do it again.
“This drop will hit monthly rentals through worsening residual values, and when trade buyers see this, they won’t bid as much: they will bid under book value. That will take time to level out.”
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It'll be standard practice that as part of the contract VW Ford will be guided on the price, certainly intially.
People shouldn't be surprized by this as there's no way VW would want to be undersold by a reshelled version of their own car.
Erm, I'd kind of feel pissed off if the Capri I owned suddenly lost £5K in secondhand value.
Discounting bought larger savings anyway, and will still continue to do so. Lesson is, don't buy, lease, fix your costs over a term and you remove the uncertainty over the levels of depreciation.