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Ford Expedition Brand Manager Luis Perez, an Expedition owner and father of three, has a lot in common with the customers he and Ford are trying to attract to the vehicle.
Ford Expedition Brand Manager Luis Perez knows the large SUV is distinct from enthusiast products like the Mustang and Bronco, and how important that differentiation is to customers.
“These customers use their vehicles for all kinds of things and are engaged in all kinds of activities,” Perez said. “That’s where we really try to zoom in on that family-life stage and emphasize the Expedition can really help make the most of it.”
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Perez and other members of the Expedition team recently hosted Ford team members for a briefing session on the all-new SUV in Detroit.
With the launch of the all-new 2025 Ford Expedition, the family favorite is back, designed to create special moments with family and friends, similar to what Perez has done for years with his own Expedition.
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The all-new Expedition is designed to integrate into customers’ busy lives.
“We’ve created a vehicle that fits into our customers’ lives, and it’s an honor to be a part of that,” he said. “With this all-new Expedition, we have a very compelling product that serves our customers in exciting, new ways.”
Perez said one of the primary innovations for the 2025 Expedition is the capability to enhance moments that don’t even involve driving. That includes the new Ford Split Gate, which allows three-quarters of the SUV’s rear gate to rise like a traditional liftgate while the lower quarter folds down like a traditional pickup truck tailgate. This is in conjunction with 360-degree Zone Lighting and the available cargo tailgate manager. These features combine to enable a tailgate-style social event before, during, and after the game.
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The all-new Expedition helps owners maximize special moments with their loved ones through innovations like the Ford Split Gate.
“All of these innovations really take what the customer’s already doing, probably at a kids travel soccer game or another event, and then amplify it, enhancing the vehicle’s utility and also the experiences these customers are having together,” he said.
Perez, 40, of Livonia, Michigan, knows firsthand what Expedition customers want. He has three children — ages 1, 3, and 11 — and the family adventures in their 2023 Ford Expedition MAX make him the ideal Expedition customer.
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Perez, a father of three, is gaining valuable insights into our Expedition customers by owning an Expedition himself. Here, the Perez family is traveling in their Expedition to attend a Boston Red Sox game this summer.
“It was actually one of the primary reasons I was interested in the job, because I knew I could be very empathetic to that customer,” he said.
The family’s Expedition has proven itself on many Perez family trips, including a recent trip to Virginia for horseback riding.
“We’ve taken the Expedition to Florida, Virginia, and the Carolinas, and we’ve really experienced what it’s like to load everything into it,” he said. “And that’s the beauty of the Expedition — no compromises. You get to bring all your stuff, all your people, and everyone’s comfortable. And you get to have a great experience along the way.”
Over 1,100 hours of research into Expedition use by families like the Perezes helped shape the all-new 2025 Expedition. Team members embedded with customers, not only in their homes but on the road, to gain a deeper understanding of pain points or other needs that might arise. Perez said paying attention to what matters to our customers, both functionally and emotionally, helps guide and inspire the product development process and the creation of new features and attributes. That, in turn, leads to compelling products like the all-new 2025 Ford Expedition.
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Ford is listening to Expedition customers in order to learn what matters most to them.
“We’re really getting to understand these customers, but not just their basic utility needs, but their high-level needs, aspirations, dreams, hopes, fears — all of these things,” he said. “And then we’re tapping into those things to really elevate how well the vehicle connects with these families. … We hope that by leaning into what we learned in the research about the importance of family and all of these other things, we can connect on an emotional level with these customers.”
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