Ford May Kill Off Its Excursion
Ford Motor Co. next year will kill off the Ford Excursion, its largest sport utility vehicle and a lightning rod for criticism from environmental groups, a person familiar with the plan said Monday.
The vehicle will stop rolling off the assembly line in September, as Ford moves to free up production capacity for the refreshed Super Duty pickup truck, said the source, on condition of anonymity.
The Excursion and Super Duty F-Series pickups are assembled at the automaker’s Louisville, Ky., truck plant. Ford sources said in 2002 that the company would discontinue the 19-foot Excursion, but it wound up getting an extended lease on life.
A Ford spokesman declined to comment on the product plan.
The second-largest U.S. automaker is planning to fill the gap in its full-size product lineup with an extended version of its Expedition SUV, the source said.
U.S. sales of the Excursion, which was launched in 1999, are down 25% so far this year. The Sierra Club, which dubbed the Excursion the “Ford Valdez” after the infamous oil spill in Alaska, called it an environmental disaster because of its poor fuel economy rating.
Gasoline mileage figures are not available from Ford or the Environmental Protection Agency, but a review on Kelly Blue Book’s website says the Excursion gets about 14 miles per gallon on the highway and 10 mpg in the city.
In addition to the Excursion, Ford also plans to kill its Lincoln Aviator, a mid-size SUV that made its debut in 2001. It will be replaced with a car-based SUV in 2006, Lincoln spokeswoman Sara Tatchio said. She declined to say exactly when production would stop. Aviator sales in the U.S. are down 20% so far this year.
