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Once America's SUV sweetheart, the Ford Explorer travels a rocky road these days.
Over the past decade — as traditional sport-utility vehicles have fallen from consumer favor — the Explorer's annual sales plummeted from 455,000 at their peak in 2000 to a weak 52,190 last year.
But resurgent Ford Motor Co. on Monday introduced an all-new SUV that will be built on a car-derived platform.
"This is huge," said Jim Holland, chief program engineer for the Explorer. "We want to take the Explorer to totally different levels."
Four years ago, Ford borrowed about $23 billion to recapitalize the company and revitalize its entire line of cars and trucks. The Explorer is the latest vehicle from that initiative, which has generated new F-series pickups, new engines for the Mustang, a redesigned Taurus, the Fiesta and Focus compacts, the Flex crossover and several new Lincoln models.
The Explorer — which was the first mainstream SUV in the United States when it was introduced 20 years ago — should arrive in dealerships this winter.
"Explorer has such a strong image they were not going to let it just die," said Todd Turner, president of Car Concepts in Thousand Oaks, Calif. "But they also couldn't stay in the dark ages with a body-on-frame SUV just to be different from the crossovers out there."
As a crossover, the new Explorer is part of a segment that includes at least 100 small, medium and large SUV-like vehicles. Still, it has a strong identity: 95 percent of consumers recognize the Explorer name, "one of the highest numbers we have seen," Holland said.
The original Explorer was on a Ranger midsize pickup frame in 1990 — an attractive, though fairly crude midsize SUV.
After years of success, the brand got battered by the Firestone tire controversy and subsequent allegations about rollover accidents in the late 1990s. It suffered another blow from high gas prices, and for the past several years, it was left as an old-school SUV in a declining segment.
In fact, some insiders say that Ford was considering letting the Explorer die but was persuaded by dealers to build an all-new version instead.
The 2011 Explorer will ride on a platform similar to those that support the Taurus sedan and Flex crossover, and it should weigh about 4,300 pounds — 100 less than the old truck. Although Ford did not release price information before the launch, Edmunds.com estimates that the new vehicle will have a base price of $29,500.
Its standard equipment will include three rows of seating and inflatable rear seat belts that act like small air bags in an accident.
Basic Explorers will be front-wheel-drive and powered by a 3.5-liter, 290-horsepower V-6 engine that's expected to get 20 percent better fuel economy than the previous Explorer, which is rated at 14 miles per gallon city, 20 mpg highway.
For those who want greater economy, a tubocharged 2-liter, four-cylinder engine with 237 horsepower — one of Ford's new EcoBoost motors — should get 30 percent better fuel economy. Six-speed automatic transmissions will be standard equipment on both engines.
After 20 years of building Explorers, Ford should have a substantial base of buyers to pull from — estimated to be about 4 million people.
In addition, the new Explorer is likely to attract younger buyers, said consultant Chris Cedergren, a partner in Iceology in Los Angeles.
