Ford Ends Production of the Excursion SUV: the “Ford Valdez”
02 October 2005
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| The Excursion |
As it announced it would earlier this year, Ford has ceased production of the giant Excursion SUV. The last models rolled off the assembly line in Louisville on Friday.
The Excursion, based on the Super Duty commercial pickup truck, was given the green light in 1997 and made its debut in 1999. Ford sold more than 50,000 in the first year, but sales dropped steadily since then. Some 11,843 Excursions have sold this year through the end of August, compared to 12,914 during the same period last year.
The Excursion was never able to threaten the Chevrolet Suburban, the sales of which grew in 2001 while the Excursion began to falter and then maintained approximately a 100,000 vehicle per year lead even while sales of both began to decline in 2002.
The Louisville plant also assembles the Super Duty, so presumably production capacity now will flow over to that model.
The over-the-top Excursion, with its V-10 engine, 44-gallon tank, four-ton weight and fuel economy bumping along in the low teens may have been the vehicle that finally focused the attention of environmental groups on the rapid proliferation of SUVs in the US and their less stringent regulation compared to cars.
The Sierra club launched a contest on the Internet to name the Excursion, and in 1999, announced the winner:“The Ford Valdez—Have You Driven a Tanker Lately?”
The cancellation—which was made for a basic business reason (sales were tanking)—comes at a time when Ford is becoming much more vocal about fuel efficiency. Losing the Excursion is good business, and good PR.
(A hat-tip to Mike and Treehugger!)
1 ugly SUV down, many more to go.
Posted by: tjts1 | 02 October 2005 at 07:43 PM
basic business reason... basically the only way to make them understand a single thing is the M word.
Posted by: rexis | 02 October 2005 at 10:37 PM
Na they basicaly filled the need. There arnt THAT many people that need such a big truck after all and by now nearly all of them have one.
When the suv was relatively new alot of people were upgrading from old trucks and wagons and vans. Now thats all done and the shift is over. On top of that the airhead nation is feeling untrendy in em so that mass of shallow little farts is also moving on to something different. And all that means is alot of cheap used suvs for those that need em or can use em.
Posted by: wintermane | 03 October 2005 at 12:09 AM
Good riddance.
Posted by: Lance Funston | 03 October 2005 at 01:03 AM
"Na they basicaly filled the need. There arnt THAT many people that need such a big truck after all and by now nearly all of them have one."
Almost all SUV sales have very little to do with "needs".
Posted by: Mikhail Capone | 03 October 2005 at 08:23 AM
Glad it is gone. I hate being on my bike or scooter around those things. Jeep's timing with the introduction of the new 7-passenger Commander SUV is about 5 years too late.
Posted by: Steve Patterson | 03 October 2005 at 12:57 PM
Just because you dont undertand the need doesnt invalidate that alot of people need a large truck and the suv is very useful for them.
Alot more people however got them for other reasons and as the people who get em for need generaly dont buy new versions all that often... hell my friends took 15 years to replace thier aging van with a suv....
Now the market is filling with cheap used suvs many many times the number of people who realy have a use for them so the market is begining to stall.
Posted by: wintermane | 03 October 2005 at 01:31 PM
Junk SUVs will be the ghetto vehicles of the 2010s. The rich will drive cool, sporty nano cars that get 90 MPG, while the poor will be struggling along with 5 MPG vehicles they can barely afford to run. But the upfront costs will be nonexistant to acquire these pieces of crap, so they'll be the only choice for people with no savings and no credit.
Posted by: Hal | 04 October 2005 at 12:47 AM
Not realy after all a good suv can always sub as an appartment;/ The new housing of the 2010s:)
Posted by: wintermane | 04 October 2005 at 06:58 AM
Good riddance as well. We need to achieve at least 50 mpg for the whole fleet. We will never get there with SUV, "Stupid, Useless, Vehicles. If you really, truly need to haul something, rent a truck, but don't drive it every day to work.
Posted by: t | 04 October 2005 at 11:26 AM