Ford Expedition SUV wins SPE Automotive Division team award 

Ford Motor Co. and its suppliers have earned the SPE Automotive Division’s Vehicle Engineering Team Award (VETA) for the 2025 Ford Expedition full-size SUV. The team will be honored at the 54th SPE Automotive Innovation Awards Gala in Livonia, Mich., on Wednesday. 

Created in 2004, the VETA periodically recognizes the polymer-enabled technical achievements of full, cross-functional teams — including designers, engineers, tier integrators, materials suppliers, toolmakers and manufacturing partners.  

Polymers enabled the team to consolidate parts, improve serviceability, control mass and cost, and maintain durability under stresses such as heat, ultraviolet light and wear. The team cited advancements in body interior and exterior components, as well as safety and sustainability. 

“Plastics-driven materials innovation helped unlock many of the advances in the all-new Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator,” chief engineer Adrian Aguirre said. “It enabled best-in-class, flexible storage with our power sliding console and a clearer, car-forward 24-inch display using integrated dual brightness enhancement film, while trimming mass, part count and cost. We’re honored to receive SPE’s Vehicle Engineering Team Award. This honor reflects our cross-functional teams’ and supplier partners' commitment to innovation-elevating capability, safety and the overall customer experience.”  

SPE’s Automotive Innovation Awards Program is the oldest and largest competition of its kind in the automotive plastics industry, with dozens of teams made up of OEMs, tier suppliers and polymer producers competing. Proceeds support SPE educational efforts and technical seminars that advance the role of plastics in the automobile industry.