2023 Ford Edge gets finely sliced updates, the merest of changes
Ford’s only made tiny tweaks to the 2023 Edge, as laid out by Ford Authority, meaning the two-row crossover — on sale in its current form since 2015 in the U.S. — hasn’t had anything close to a substantive upgrade in 2.5 years, when it received a new 12-inch infotainment touchscreen and Sync4A. Revisions for the 2023 model year are mainly the re-availability of features cut or swapped out for 2022. The Iconic Silver Honeycomb Grille with Chrome Grille Surround returns on SE and SEL trims for this year, as do the Bezel Chrome Fog Lamps in the SEL Convenience Package.
The Perimeter Alarm is a standard feature on the Edge ST after being optional in 2022. The SecuriCode Keyless Entry Keypad is kaput across the lineup after making a last stand in the optional Convenience Package last year for certain trims. And a $650 ST Interior Appearance Package now offered on the top trim adds leather seats with Miko inserts stitched up by Red and Raptor Blue accent stitching, a perforated leather steering wheel with Race Red and Raptor Blue stitching and ST Logo, a center console lid, plus special floor mats and door inserts.
A couple of years of reports and rumor, as well as a Canadian auto union agreement, point to Ford dropping the Edge after this model year, although the news about timing still isn’t verified. The Edge is certainly going away in our market as an internal-combustion offering, though, Ford CEO Jim Farley telling analysts so during the Q4 2022 earnings call. He said, “[We] we are not going to be playing in the two-row commodity SUV market because that’s — because Ford’s tried that in the ICE business. It didn’t really work out for us. We want to play our hand, our strength, commercial, truck, larger vehicles on the category side.”
However, before Farley made that point, he said, “The two-row crossover is turning out to be the core civic of the EV business,” so don’t be surprised at a reprisal in some form with a battery and electric motors, maybe as an electric successor to the Lincoln Nautilus.