Ford Explorer - long America's best selling sport utility, is about to change forever.

There are a lot of us who love Mustangs who keep other types of Fords, Mercurys, and Lincolns in our garages.  Ford Explorer is no exception.  Explorer was once an F-Series pick-up truck.  In 1991, Explorer became a redesigned and enlarged Ford Bronco II replacement available in two- and four-door versions first with a V-6, then ultimately optional V-8 power. 

Explorer sold like gangbusters for at least 15 years and outsold everything in its class.  As fuel prices went up and employed Americans went down, Explorer sales suffered a terrible fate, falling more than 50-percent at its lowest point.  This put Ford in the position of having to evaluate what to do with what was America's best selling sport utility.

Looks like Explorer will become a crossover vehicle for 2011 according to our sources.  Instead of being a body-on-frame vehicle, Explorer will become a unit body like Mustang in order to lose weight and control cost, yet built on a different platform.  Optional V-8 will be gone and in its place, a powerful DOHC V-6.  More information is yet to come.  

The age of the ever-popular sport utility is fading, with a new generation of sporty nature-going recreational vehicles to follow after 2010.  We will keep you posted on Explorer's progress in the months ahead.