The Ford Explorer: A Retrospective - Automobile Magazine
From inception, the Explorer was a massive sales success, and Ford made improvements to keep it relevant. Safety features, such as anti-lock brakes and airbags, increased the Explorer's popularity among families as well as serious truck buyers. Ford introduced Mazda, Mercury, and Lincoln variants of the Explorer, with varying degrees of success. Surprisingly, however, the Firestone disaster wasn't a knock-out blow for the Explorer, which continued to enjoy vigorous sales -- this despite fresh competition from Jeep, Land Rover, Chevrolet, and Toyota. Instead, the Explorer's decline was brought on by the introduction of carlike SUVs, such as the Toyota Camry-based Highlander and Lexus RX300, which lured buyers shied away from the body-on-frame Explorer and its ilk. Explorer sales peaked in 2000 at 445,157, but began a downward slide in 2002 that has continued through this year. Sales in 2009 represent an 88 percent drop over its best year's, and sales in the first half of 2010 stand at just 31,864. A new Explorer is just around the corner, and it will finally abandon the trucklike body-on-frame construction in favor of a... Source: www.automobilemag.com
