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Best selling SUV in America is now the Honda CR-V

NFS4

NFS4

No Lifer
It looks like the age of the traditional body-on-frame SUV is coming to a close for most mainstream customers. While there will continue to be a market for big SUVs like the Tahoe and Expedition for customers who actually need to haul or tow stuff, many customers in the high volume mid-sized segment are realizing they can get by with something a little smaller and lot more fuel efficient.

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.
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http://www.autoblog.com/2007/05/13/amer...eplaces-ford-explorer-as-best-selling/
 
Time to put the old girl out to pasture.
People are more interested in smaller more efficient SUVs not yesterdays truck based behemoths.
If Ford was smart they would kill it and move the resources to somewhere else.
 
Originally posted by: CrackRabbit
Time to put the old girl out to pasture.
People are more interested in smaller more efficient SUVs not yesterdays truck based behemoths.
If Ford was smart they would kill it and move the resources to somewhere else.
Click to expand...

With the Edge and the new Flex, I see no need for the Explorer or a successor to the vehicle.

 
My sister has one and I like it better than my mothers BMW X5. (or whatever that BMW SUV is called.)

I'll stick with my gas guzzling Expedition. (until I can afford a smaller SUV...)
 
Originally posted by: Kev
My parents have the CR-V and I think it is ugly as sin and a real piece of crap to drive.
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Well if you say that about the CR-V (which is probably one of the most car-like SUVs out there), then the Explorer must be a REAL piece of sh!t 😀
 
Yes the new CR-V is hideous.

I swear Honda gets a free pass on fugly body styles. I'm thinking mainly of the CR-V and Fit.

Let's see... the Flex is the production version of the Fairlane concept.
Taurus X??? What was that again??
 
Great to hear the new CR-V sales are going so well. My wife has a 2005 SE model from the previous generation and we both love it.

Hopefully this increasing demand for more compact and fuel efficient SUVs will be the impetus that convinces Honda to bring the Honda Crossroad to the U.S. While I actually like the current Element, the styling is a big turnoff to a lot of people and updating it with a similar vehicle like this (which gets even better mileage than the CR-V) would probably help its sales explode.
 
Originally posted by: FeuerFrei
Yes the new CR-V is hideous.

I swear Honda gets a free pass on fugly body styles. I'm thinking mainly of the CR-V and Fit.

Let's see... the Flex is the production version of the Fairlane concept.
Taurus X??? What was that again??
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Taurus = rebadged Ford 50
Taurus X = rebadged Ford Freestyle IIRC
 
I still don't understand the obsession with tall station wagons like the CRV, but I definitely agree that the CRV is a better minivan replacement than the current Explorer. That said, there's no way I'd have been able to tow 5,000 pounds of car and trailer through the White Mountains of NH behind a CRV like I did with our old Explorer with the 302 V8.

The Explorer was and is great for people who need a truck but can't afford a second vehicle for people-hauling. Comparing the two really isn't accurate. The CRV is a station wagon and the Explorer is a truck, marketing materials be damned. 😛

ZV
 
I like the new CR-V. I considered one until I saw it only had ~160hp. I could pull it with my truck faster.

I don't need an all out sports car, but I'd like something with some balls.
 
Not surprising, considering what counts as an SUV these days. Most of them are nothing more than a station wagon with a couple more inches of headroom and a couple more inches of ground clearance.

 
I always liked station wagons. I'm glad to see they're making a come back, even if they refuse to call them what they are.
 
I4 SUV that can't go offroad? I'd rather get a hatchback like my Mazda3 and save some money and have more fun in the twisties.
 
Originally posted by: FeuerFrei
I swear Honda gets a free pass on fugly body styles. I'm thinking mainly of the CR-V and Fit.
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Agreed on the new CRV being fugly (what's with the new front end?) but you must mean "Element" instead of "Fit."

- M4H

 
Originally posted by: senseamp
I4 SUV that can't go offroad? I'd rather get a hatchback like my Mazda3 and save some money and have more fun in the twisties.
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"I4 SUV that can't go offroad" vs "V8 SUV that never goes offroad except down the gravel road leading to the soccer field" = :itsatossup; 😉

- M4H
 
Originally posted by: NFS4
Originally posted by: CrackRabbit
Time to put the old girl out to pasture.
People are more interested in smaller more efficient SUVs not yesterdays truck based behemoths.
If Ford was smart they would kill it and move the resources to somewhere else.
Click to expand...

With the Edge and the new Flex, I see no need for the Explorer or a successor to the vehicle.
Click to expand...
You suck at analyzing.
 
Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
Originally posted by: senseamp
I4 SUV that can't go offroad? I'd rather get a hatchback like my Mazda3 and save some money and have more fun in the twisties.
Click to expand...

"I4 SUV that can't go offroad" vs "V8 SUV that never goes offroad except down the gravel road leading to the soccer field" = :itsatossup; 😉

- M4H
Click to expand...

I read an article a few years back about SUV's....

They whined about the "truck like ride" of my old Jeep Cherokee Larado, but it was the only one to pass the off road course (climbing a nasty mud/snow hill, iirc).

I don't get it...why get an SUV if you DON'T NEED to tow something, or go offroad. Get a minivan, they are more efficient, haul more people and stuff, and do so MORE comfortably then an SUV.
 
Originally posted by: nweaver
I read an article a few years back about SUV's....

They whined about the "truck like ride" of my old Jeep Cherokee Larado, but it was the only one to pass the off road course (climbing a nasty mud/snow hill, iirc).

I don't get it...why get an SUV if you DON'T NEED to tow something, or go offroad. Get a minivan, they are more efficient, haul more people and stuff, and do so MORE comfortably then an SUV.
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1. Image
2. Image
3. Did I mention image?
4. Small penis syndrome (see also Image, Image, and Image)
5. The CRV and other I4-powered vehicles aren't really SUVs; they're generally cheaper and more fuel-efficient than a V6-powered minivan.

Wife likes the Patriot anyhow, so that'll probably be her next vehicle. 🙂

- M4H
 
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