Filed under: SUVs, Honda, Toyota
Americans CRaVe the CR-V, replaces Ford Explorer as best-selling ute in U.S.
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.
[Source: Bloomberg]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
bob 1:50PM (5/13/2007)
HAHA! Can't wait for the "BASH ANYTHING JAPANESE" autobloggers to start their "people are soooo stupid that they'll buy a fresh cow dung with the steam still coming off of it if it had an Honda emblem on it" to start in.
Honda gets it right because it produces cars people want with good specs. Albeit the Element and Ridgeline aren't exactly hot sellers but fill a niche.
Reply
3cubedminus3squared 1:55PM (5/13/2007)
They should get rid of the Taurus X. The Edge and Flex look good and they their name isn't as dumb as Taurus X.
Reply
Paul Y 2:05PM (5/13/2007)
Ford really needs to re-balance their product line. They can't realistically expect an entire lineup of overlapping products to all sell well.
My next-door neighbor had an Edge for a week or so as a rental (weird, I know), and that was the closest I've gotten to one: I wouldn't drive it, but it's a very handsome vehicle, admittedly. The safety razor motif actually works.
The Taurus-X and Flex, however, are really going to cause problems. They're way too similar to each other, and probably stepping on the toes of the Edge. That's WAY too much lineup overlap. Keeping the Explorer around much longer (even if only in name, not so much as a "truck") is going to make this situation worse.
Like #1 said, new explorers are surprisingly rare. The only ones I ever see are at the dealer down the street with promises of giant discounts written on the windshield.
I don't want the big 2.5 to die, necessarily, but at this rate, they're doing it to themselves. This is exactly more of the same that got Ford where it is today.
Reply
Sandeep 2:14PM (5/13/2007)
I think that GM has done a much better job of avoiding overlap in their SUV lineup, as each brand only has the crossover (acadia, for example) and body-on-frame (trailblazer). It could be debated, however, that GM shouldn't have so many brands with nearly identical vehicles (although more unique than a fusion vs milan).
If you look at other manufacturers, such as Hyundai or Toyota, there is some overlap (Santa Fe vs Veracruz, Rav4 vs Highlander vs FJ Cruiser) but there are distinct differences. I don't see that going forward in the Ford lineup.
Reply
3cubedminus3squared 2:21PM (5/13/2007)
I see more new Explorers than new CR-Vs where I live. But I also live in Texas (Ford Chevy country).
Reply
phil 2:34PM (5/13/2007)
I think Ford should move the explorer to Bronco territory, reclaim the off-road niche. Or, ax the explorer and bring on the bronco concept that generated so much buzz to compete with the FJ. There can only be so many people movers in a lineup, and Ford is definitely pushing some limit.
Reply
ford_for_road 2:43PM (5/13/2007)
ford edge is the one that ford need to cut the problem .............
Reply
MikeOpenGL 2:53PM (5/13/2007)
You know, typically I would feel bad for Ford. But, I e-mailed a suggestion to them this past week and basically got a wordy e-mail telling me thy only value the opinion of their employees, and not their customers. My household has three Ford products right now, and probably the last three ever.
Reply
F451 2:55PM (5/13/2007)
The CR-V is a good looking vehicle. I have never seen the need for the larger SUVs. The car lots I drive by are becoming filled with large SUVs—no one really wants them any longer. Too bad they woke-up a bit too late.
Reply
... 3:06PM (5/13/2007)
The front of the current crv is horrendous(i think), and to #5, the fj cruiser is toyota's hummer niche, a large, useless vehicle. It is not similar to the rav4 or highlander, in which case the highlander is just a "midsize" suv and the rav4 is a small suv. most automakers have 2 or 3 different sizes of suvs.
Reply
smartmlp 3:07PM (5/13/2007)
Are you kidding? The CR-V is a horrible looking vehicle. I would not ever purchase one, a trailblazer is a much nicer vehicle as far as power and materials.
Reply
LyonKing 3:09PM (5/13/2007)
@Phil - I think you hit the nail on the head right there. Ford shouldn't be mkaing the Explorer into just another people mover. It has been around for so long as an SUV it needs to stay that way.
Making it into an FJ/Wrangler/H4 competeitor is what needs to happen. Ford tries to hard to appeal to everybody with every product and they come up short all to often.
By focusing certain products to certain niches they will have a better lineup and better sales because of it.
So Ford: enough with the people movers!! We need more fun cars that AREN'T a new rendition of the Mustang
Reply
Aaron 3:12PM (5/13/2007)
nice save bob you AIDS monkey.
Honda's elite brand, acura can't seem to keep their car lineup in stock, -31.6% year to date.
Fudgeline and Elemonaid sales off what around 20%, close to the what 22.8% the exploder is off.
Midsized SUVs are a waning market. Most of them are experiencing horrid sales.
Reply
MikeOpenGL 3:23PM (5/13/2007)
Ford just needs to get some clean diesels to put into their large SUVs. Jeep does that now with the Grand Cherokee, and it gets fuel mileage in the mid-20, and it's very capable at towing and what not because of the high torque it makes.
Reply
smartmlp 3:26PM (5/13/2007)
I think a point needs to be made. The explorer is a GREAT SUV. I have sat in one and the materials are matching if not exceeding anything the asians can make. It has a lot of power, and although it is a little gas hungry it can tow a lot.
The problem is, it doesn't matter what ford does, most people will not even consider them. They will buy a sub-par product from Honda/Toyota just because their neighbor told them it was awesome, or because of a previous experience they may have had during the 80's.
Its hard to change an image. Just don't be one of these people, and next time you are looking for a car at least CONSIDER buying from an American company based on what they sell. Yes, Toyota, Honda, etc have workers in the US. But the amount they have here is small compared to the 2.5, and in the end most of the money is being sent back to japan where it encounters a huge benefit through the exchange rate process and then goes right into the pockets of JAPANESE shareholders.
We are in a way slowly destroying our own company, there comes a point where you can no longer just import everything. We have to make/run/design/build SOMETHING to sell to Japan. Its really hard, because of the huge tarrifs they impose on the products we sell there, yet we allow them to sell anything in our country for cheap.
Reply
kww 3:39PM (5/13/2007)
The CRV is not built in East Liberty. They build the Civic and the box on wheels they call the Element.
Reply
Barney 3:40PM (5/13/2007)
"15. Ford just needs to get some clean diesels to put into their large SUVs..."
What's the point if it's another needless huge engine that gobbles up fuel. Diesels may be better then gas but why do they have to have 300HP+. A 300 HP diesel will burn as much, if not more then a 210HP gas engine. People quite buying diesels for efficiency and instead for the extra power and torque. If the diesel 10 years ago did the job, why can't it now? GMs 6.5 was a good engine but didn't have the horsepower of the Cummins or Navistar.
Reply
praetorian 3:43PM (5/13/2007)
" Ford should move the explorer to Bronco territory"
Seriously. Even the FJ pretty much leaves the wrangler as the only pure 4x4 on the market. (I say that as a 'yota guy, with an FJ40 parked outside. I was obviously hoping for a very different vehicle from toyota.)
They also should have worked just a bit more on getting the LR defender back to the states. Both of those vehicles would have been good niche halo vehicles that got young kids and us older kids interested in ford products again.
On the other hand, I hate pretty much all vehicles made today, and think we need smaller, simpler, higher-quality vehicles with historical styling rather than overstuffed plastic techno-pods, so perhaps my perspective on the market isn't particularly useful.
Cheers,
prat
Reply
iQuack 3:48PM (5/13/2007)
CR-V is an excellent vehicle, but its seats are for women or shorter men.
Sit in a CR-V, then in an Accord. The seats are MUCH better in the Accord. Too bad.
Reply
MikeOpenGL 3:53PM (5/13/2007)
@Barney: They don't need 300hp from a diesel. A I6/V6 turbo-diesel making ~ 210hp and 375+ lb ft of torque would be way more than enough. It should yield mid to high 20 mpg on the highway, and low 20's in the city. BMW has an I6 turbo-diesel in it's 335d in Europe making 289 hp and 430 lb ft of torque. It runs 0-60 in 6.1 seconds and gets around 40 mpg highway.
Reply