The Ford Explorer dominated SUV sales charts throughout the 1990s and into
the first part of this decade with sales of 445,157 in 2000. In the last couple
of years, however, Explorer sales have tanked seeing it drop from first to
fourth on the sales charts. Last year ,sales dipped to 179, 229 and the freefall
shows no signs of letting up. The numbers are down another twenty-three percent
so far this year. On the flipside,
sales of the redesigned Honda CR-V are up forty-two percent so far this year
and it has jumped to the number one spot on the chart followed by the Toyota
RAV-4 and Ford Escape, with the new Ford Edge coming on strong as well. The CR-V
is doing so well that Honda is having to consider how to increase volume to meet
the demand. For the first time, the automaker has started importing extra units
from Japan to supplement the main production facility in East Liberty Ohio. Ford
has already announced plans to move the Explorer to a unit-body crossover
platform, which can't happen soon enough. The only problem will be finding a
place to fit into a lineup already filled with the Escape, Edge, Flex and Taurus
X. (thanks
Autoblog)