Ford Explorer: No Longer King of SUV Mountain
December 04, 2007
Remember when the Ford Explorer was king of the SUV mountain – the best-selling SUV in America?
The Explorer's reign is long over.
Without fanfare, the Honda CR-V quietly took over the No. 1 spot among SUVs and crossovers this past year. A number of other SUVs have also passed the Explorer by. In fact, the Explorer has been surpassed by the Ford Escape and Ford Edge.
Top 10 Rankings Shift Around
When it was introduced in 1990, the Ford Explorer quickly shot to the top of the charts for sales, becoming America's best-selling SUV for more than a decade.
But, as gas prices rose and consumers steered away from midsize and large SUVs like the Explorer, the top 10 rankings of America's best-selling SUVs -- which added crossovers to the mix -- did some shifting around. The following shows the rankings through November of this year.
| Ford Explorer: No Longer King of the SUV Mountain America’s Top 10 Best-Selling SUV/Crossovers |
||
|---|---|---|
| Make | Model | Total |
| Honda | CR-V | 200,501 |
| Toyota | RAV4 | 158,936 |
| Chevrolet | Tahoe | 134,905 |
| Ford | Escape | 132,897 |
| Ford | Edge | 116,403 |
| Jeep | Wrangler | 110,236 |
| Jeep | Grand Cherokee | 109,184 |
| Chevrolet | TrailBlazer | 107,952 |
| Honda | Pilot | 106,743 |
| Ford | Explorer | 105,773 |
| Toyota | Highlander | 93,626 |
| Hyundai | Santa Fe | 83,319 |
| Jeep | Liberty | 82,164 |
| Chevrolet | Equinox | 81,848 |
| Toyota | 4Runner | 80,297 |
| Chevrolet | Suburban | 76,900 |
| Saturn | VUE | 76,439 |
| Lexus | RX 350 | 76,246 |
| Nissan | Murano | 72,159 |
| Dodge | Nitro | 67,475 |
| Ford | Expedition | 67,185 |
| GMC | Acadia | 65,372 |
| GMC | Yukon | 58,266 |
| Nissan | Pathfinder | 58,243 |
| Jeep | Commander | 57,206 |
| Acura | MDX | 52,700 |
| Toyota | FJ Cruiser | 51,091 |
| Nissan | Xterra | 47,444 |
| Kia | Sportage | 44,284 |
| Dodge | Durango | 43,023 |
| GMC | Yukon XL | 41,620 |
| HUMMER | H3 | 39,250 |
| Mazda | CX-7 | 38,712 |
| Hyundai | Tucson | 38,514 |
| GMC | Envoy | 38,236 |
| Jeep | Compass | 36,196 |
| Jeep | Patriot | 35,447 |
| Kia | Sorento | 34,664 |
| Lincoln | MKX | 34,097 |
| Cadillac | Escalade | 33,302 |
| Honda | Element | 32,343 |
| Saturn | Outlook | 31,591 |
| Pontiac | Torrent | 30,248 |
| Mercedes-Benz | M-Class | 29,917 |
| BMW | X5 | 29,478 |
| Mercury | Mariner | 29,164 |
| Nissan | Armada | 28,976 |
| Volvo | XC90 | 27,993 |
| BMW | X3 | 26,507 |
| Chrysler | Aspen | 25,766 |
| Buick | Enclave | 24,560 |
| Mercedes-Benz | GL-Class | 23,370 |
| Mazda | CX-9 | 22,418 |
| Mitsubishi | Outlander | 22,105 |
| Mercury | Mountaineer | 21,929 |
| Suzuki | XL-7 | 21,629 |
| Acura | RDX | 21,093 |
| Toyota | Sequoia | 20,706 |
| Lexus | GX 470 | 20,287 |
| Cadillac | SRX | 20,060 |
| Toyota | Highlander Hybrid | 19,538 |
| Ford | Escape Hybrid | 19,397 |
| Audi | Q7 | 19,120 |
| Suzuki | Grand Vitara | 18,208 |
| Lincoln | Navigator | 17,345 |
| Infiniti | FX35 | 17,270 |
| Ford | Expedition EL | 15,586 |
| Lexus | RX 400h | 15,259 |
| Buick | Rendezvous | 15,258 |
| Land Rover | Range Rover Sport | 15,138 |
| Cadillac | Escalade ESV | 14,837 |
| Chevrolet | TrailBlazer EXT | 14,602 |
| Subaru | B9 Tribeca | 12,434 |
| Mazda | Tribute | 12,427 |
| Nissan | Rogue | 11,520 |
| Hyundai | Veracruz | 11,367 |
| Porsche | Cayenne | 11,293 |
| Mitsubishi | Endeavor | 11,198 |
| Infiniti | QX56 | 10,972 |
| Land Rover | Range Rover | 10,940 |
| Land Rover | LR3 | 10,328 |
| HUMMER | H2 | 8,962 |
| Land Rover | LR2 | 8,256 |
| GMC | Envoy XL | 6,413 |
| Volkswagen | Touareg | 5,998 |
| Buick | Rainier | 4,715 |
| Saab | 9-7X | 4,665 |
| Lincoln | Navigator L | 4,414 |
| Mercury | Mariner Hybrid | 3,446 |
| Subaru | Tribeca | 2,885 |
| Isuzu | Ascender | 2,750 |
| Toyota | Land Cruiser | 2,603 |
| Lexus | LX 470 | 2,337 |
| Volkswagen | Touareg 2 | 1,592 |
| Infiniti | FX45 | 1,444 |
| Mercedes-Benz | G-Class | 1,014 |
| Mitsubishi | Montero | 400 |
| HUMMER | H1 Alpha | 122 |
| Isuzu | Axiom | 8 |
| Chevrolet | Blazer | 7 |
| Isuzu | Rodeo | 4 |
| Land Rover | Freelander | 1 |
Source: Edmunds.com's analysis of vehicle sales reports provided by automakers
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:18 AM under Analysis , Ford | Comments (6) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
I find it hard to believe that Honda sold exactly the same number of Pilots as Ford sold Explorers. Does this happen often?
Posted by: Drew | December 04, 2007 at 10:35 AM
Demographic shift has to be taken into consideration. Baby boomers are retireing and don't need as much vehicle as the Explorer any more. The volume down trend for the Explorer was not hard to predict.
Posted by: Larry | December 04, 2007 at 3:21 PM
Honda could have the #1 SUV, #1 Minivan, and #1 car in sales. Wow. Remember a few years ago when Honda decided to sell some engines to GM as a hedge against a takeover? Times have changed. Too bad the American manufacturers didn't learn more from the last energy crisis in the 70s. Doomed to repeat it I guess.
Posted by: Double Wishbone | December 04, 2007 at 5:02 PM
Another view for the same numbers, American Makers doing the 1,2,3 in this segment
Make Total
GMC......... 932892
FMC.......... 713849
Chrysler.... 566697
Toyota...... 540926
Honda...... 413380
Nissan...... 248028
Hyundai.....133200
Kia............ 78948
BMW ......... 55985
Mercedes.... 54301
Suzuki ....... 39837
Mitsubishi... 33703
Audi........... 19120
Subaru....... 15319
Porsche...... 11293
Volkswagen. 7590
Anyway, the Explorer is still the best
Posted by: Mauricio | December 04, 2007 at 5:24 PM
Consumer attitudes have shifted and so has Ford. Ford has 3 main SUV/CUV's (Explr / Escape / Edge) now totalling approximately 355,000 sales vs. Honda's 2 SUV/CUV's (CR-V / Pilot) sales totalling 308,000 sales.
Ford, not taking into consideration Lincoln and Mercury, has added Edge to their existing Escape CUV segment lineup while Honda only has 1 entry in each segment. Also, Edge has been available for sale less than 1 year and is already #5 in total sales across all SUV/CUV segments. Pretty impressive.
Posted by: Brian | December 05, 2007 at 9:00 AM
Well, again, using the same numbers of the ranking we can demonstrate that FORD brand is the real number ONE in this segment. So, we can say the consumer has shiffted their attitudes about the size of the SUV but not the brand of your choice.
Brand Total
Ford ........ 457.241
Jeep ....... 430.433
Toyota .... 426.797
Chevrolet . 416.214
Honda ..... 339.587
Nissan ..... 218.342
GMC ........ 209.907
Hyundai ... 133.200
Lexus ...... 114.129
Dodge ..... 110.498
Saturn ..... 108.030
....
Saab ....... 4.665
Isuzu....... 2.762
Total 3.865.068
Who is the king of the mountain?. Yes, Ford.
Is pretty impressive how you can use the numbers to show what you want.
Posted by: Mauricio | December 05, 2007 at 5:17 PM