Ford's New SUV The Everest

[csv8]

Updated: 03:14 PM EST
Ford Plans Even Bigger SUV for 2007

By Dan Lienert, Forbes.com


FordFord plans to launch a stretched version of its current Expedition SUV, above, in 2007 without much media fanfare.


(Dec. 13) - Ford Motor will put a stretched version of its Expedition SUV into production next April at the Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne, Mich., where it builds the regular Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs. The stretched Expedition will be out next summer as a 2007 model, according to supplier sources familiar with the automaker's plans, and a Lincoln counterpart -- a stretched Navigator -- is likely to follow, perhaps in spring 2007.

The longer Expedition had been known internally at Ford as "the Everest," but the company realized that name, in production, would connote monstrous size. At a time when Americans are fleeing from large SUVs due to high gas prices, Ford wants to be more subtle about releasing and naming such an enormous model.

Suppliers say the new model will have, instead, a name such as Expedition Max, Expedition XL or Expedition EL. You can also expect a low-key media introduction for the vehicle, given that it will be antithetical to Chairman Bill Ford's recent, highly visible series of commercials touting Ford's commitment to gas/electric hybrids and the environment.

In a phone interview today, a Ford spokesman declined to comment on plans for the new vehicle, but said, "We believe that customers are ready to sustain traditional SUVs, but perhaps not at the volumes they once did. The utility of the vehicles can't be replaced easily.

"There's this whole idea of hyper-functionality that a lot of people need, whether it's in terms of cargo capacity, people-carrying ability or towing capacity," he said. "There is a market."

There is a market indeed, as evidenced by the historical success of such huge General Motors SUVs as the GMC Yukon XL, Cadillac Escalade ESV and Chevrolet Suburban, against which the new Ford would compete. In fact, expect Ford's new vehicle to be to the regular Expedition what the Suburban is to the Chevrolet Tahoe: essentially the same vehicle, but longer. The Detroit News reported yesterday that the stretched Expedition would be about 15 inches longer than the regular model.




Ford recently released a face-lifted version of its top-selling Explorer SUV -- not a wholesale overhaul -- and is planning to do the same for the larger Expedition for model-year 2007. The new Expedition -- on which Ford will base the stretched Expedition -- will have a new front structure, but components behind the hood will be similar to those in the old Expedition.

The changes to the front structure make the long Expedition's engine options hard to predict. The model could use current Expedition engines or larger engines from Ford's full-size Super Duty pickup family, with which the Expedition will have more in common following the face-lift.

Super Duty engines would make sense in the longer Expedition, which will do the duty once done by Ford's full-sized Excursion SUV, which the company is phasing out of showrooms. The Excursion has been called a full-sized truck in a Sunday suit--a work vehicle with too rough a ride and too crude a steering system to work as a retail vehicle.

While part of the market for the new, stretched Expedition could be commercial users, Ford wants a full-sized SUV that would be considerably more refined and family-friendly than the Excursion.

"The SUV market is predominantly a retail market," said the Ford spokesman. "Commercial users tend to focus on vehicles like E-Series vans and heavy-duty pickups."


12-13-05 13:49 EST


© 2005 Forbes.com™