Bill Pierre Ford

The Ford Explorer is getting a redesign for 2011 and moving to a unibody platform. And here is the first prototype of the new SUV we’ve seen, getting a test drive on public roads.

The Ford Explorer is the automaker’s flagship SUV. The unibody platform for the 2011 model is a version being used for the Ford Flex wagon and Ford Taurus/Lincoln MKS sedans. In this prototype of the 2011 Ford Explorer, we can see where it picks up the A-pillars and roofline of the Flex.

The redesigned  Explorer will have a long wheelbase, as seen on this prototype, to accommodate three rows of seats. But the Explorer prototype has more ground clearance than the Flex.

The styling of the 2011 Explorer is based on the Ford Explorer America concept that rolled out at the Detroit auto show in 2008. Keeping a square look for the Explorer helps set it apart from Ford’s crossovers, such as the Edge.

The new Explorer will continue to offer off-road and towing capabilities, although the limits may be diminished with a shift to the unibody platform.

Under the hood will be Ford’s EcoBoost engines, which combine direct fuel injection and turbocharging to wring more power out of smaller displacements. We look for four- and six-cylinder engines to be available in the new Explorer.

Production of the Explorer is likely to shift from the Ford’s truck plant in Louisville to its car plant in Chicago that builds the Ford Taurus and Lincoln MKS.

CEO Alan Mulally is dispatching executives to 100 cities — from Olympia, Wash., to Winston-Salem, N.C. — to build enthusiasm before Taurus hits showrooms in August.

Executives are supposed to talk up the Taurus and other new vehicles in the lineup as they visit broadcasters, newspapers and just about any other place.

Taurus’ success is critical for Ford, which can’t afford to see its new flagship flop as it walks a financial tightrope. So far, it has not asked for government loans as have General Motors and Chrysler, both in bankruptcy court.

Mulally has a personal stake in Taurus, too. He rescued the name from the dustbin and pinned it on the Five Hundred sedan to mark time until this all-new version arrived.

Though Ford denies it’s intentional, the sessions will serve the additional purpose of distancing the automaker from GM and Chrysler.

“I am sure that is still part of it,” says Alexander Edwards, president of the automotive consulting arm of Strategic Vision. “In the end, they are going to have to remove that negative imagery.”

A blitz is right out of Ford’s playbook lately. It has given 100 new Fiesta minicars to bloggers, rockers and other tastemakers to build buzz before its launch. And participants streamed Twitter tweets as they squeezed 1,446 miles out of a tank of gas to promote its new Fusion Hybrid in Washington, D.C.

This time, marketing chief Jim Farley says the blitz is all about an “opportunity to connect with customers around our new lineup.” He says Detroit’s troubles won’t come up because “more than 90%” of people know Ford stands apart from GM and Chrysler.

Ford is well-positioned now, he says, because buyers are moving down from more ostentatious brands. He noted how McDonald’s is trying to encroach on the gourmet coffee business of Starbucks. He says there’s a “change in psychology away from ‘badge’ and prestige and to mainstream products that are well executed.”

Longtime auto marketing executive Gordon Wangers says those traveling Ford executives had better choose their words carefully.

Ford escaped financial disaster by being smart and lucky, but was left with a hangover of debt, he says. “I’m not the only person I’ve heard say, ‘I’m tired of their chest pounding.’ “