Ford, BMW, Mercedes: Pope Leo XIV has a special relationship with cars. And Chicago has already given him a Ford
Robert Francis Provost he spent years on the rugged roads of the Peruvian Andes in a lead gray Toyota Hilux. In that missionary experience he also learned basic mechanics: in the Augustinian community he was the point of contact for oil changes and spark plug replacements. It’s not just a curious anecdote. It tells something about a man who has always had a direct, practical, almost affectionate relationship with cars.
Today that man is Pope Leo XIV. And Chicago, his city, has already let him know that it has not forgotten him, with a very beautiful and very particular gift.
The Ford as a gift to Pope Leo XIV
On February 28, in a private audience at the Vatican, Ford CEO Jim Farley and his wife Lia gave the Pope a Ford Explorer Platinum Hybrid 2026assembled at Ford’s Chicago plant. The vehicle is powered by a 3.3-liter V6 engine with a ten-speed automatic transmission. It is the American model, with traditional hybrid architecture: it is not on sale on the European market, where Ford markets a completely different, electric Explorer, on a platform shared with Volkswagen.
The customizations are taken care of in detail. The Chicago skyline appears in the interior embroidery and on the door sills, along with the profile of St. Peter’s Basilica. The city flag is applied to the leather seat tags. The plaques bear the words “DA POPE” and “LEO XIV”. On a technical level, the radio system was adapted to European frequencies. The Pope will use the vehicle for internal travel within Vatican City.
But the delivery also had a more intimate dimension. In fact, Farley brought with him a photograph of the factory team and handwritten letters from the workers who worked on the car. Leo XIV briefly drove the vehicle with Farley on board, blessed some rosaries to give to the workers and, according to the company, noticed and appreciated every detail of the customizations. The red (or white, since it’s the Pope) thread, Farley said, was the sense of pride in shared Chicago roots.
The pontifical garage
Well, that Ford Explorer is certainly not the Popemobile. The history of papal cars, in any case, has always been linked to European brands: Mercedes-Benz is a historic supplier of the Vatican City State and protagonist of the latest generations of official cars. The latest one delivered, at the end of 2024, is an electric Mercedes G-Class based on the G580, with four motors, all-wheel drive and a power of 432 kW. Bergoglio had been able to use it only once, on 20 April, before his death.
Leo XIV inherited that car for official public travel. But one of his first independent choices was abandon the white Fiat 500L of the predecessoropting from the Vatican car fleet, which numbers around 900 vehicles, for a dark blue Volkswagen Multivan PHEV 4MOTION, with a 245 HP rechargeable hybrid engine. A further contribution arrived in December 2025: BMW donated an iX xDrive60 M Sport to the Pope, in a ceremony attended by CEO Oliver Zipse and the president of BMW Italy Massimiliano Di Silvestre.
A garage which, as a whole, probably reflects something more than simple logistics. It tells the story of a Pope who comes from far away, who knows the mud streets of the Andes and the concrete of the South Side, and who carries with him, even in the details, the memory of where he grew up.
