Ford Giving Away PlayStation 5 With Every New Explorer

Dec. 21, 2020 6:36 AM ET by Sebastian Cenizo Pricing / 21 Comments

It's an unusual marketing technique, but it'll probably help.

The correlation between a vehicle manufacturer and a gaming console is usually made as a result of games like Gran Turismo, where you get to race all sorts of vehicles from all sorts of automakers. However, Ford in Spain is now making the connection in a different way. The brand is now offering a PlayStation 5 gaming console with the purchase of a new Ford Explorer, eschewing the usual discount offerings in favor of something that is certainly a massive part of pop culture right now. Of course, buying an SUV just to get a PS5 seems like overkill, but demand for the console has been insane.

Sony

Ford

The first batch of the new console is already sold out, so those who may have been considering a new vehicle may just be won over by the temptation of getting the latest Sony console with their purchase of the Explorer. Unfortunately, it seems that this offer is only available in the Mediterranean country, and there's no indication of how long the promotion will run for, but local buyers interested in the Explorer can at least take advantage of big price cuts that were brought into effect earlier this year. At present, the base version of the 2021 Explorer is on sale for $32,225, but higher trims have seen substantial price cuts too.

Ford

The Explorer is already America's best-selling midsize SUV and the seven-seater is offered with a choice of two powertrains: the standard motor is a 2.3-liter turbocharged EcoBoost motor with 300 horsepower and 310 lb-ft of torque while the top two trims get a bigger 3.0-liter EcoBoost V6 with as much as 400 hp and 415 lb-ft for the ST model and 365 hp/380 lb-ft for the Platinum variant. It's an attractive proposition, but would you really buy a new SUV just so that you can get access to the latest gaming console from Sony? Perhaps if the idea works in Spain, similar offers will start becoming popular elsewhere too.