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Excursion heads to extinction
News reports say mammoth sport-utility is done

July 31, 2002

BY LAWRENCE ULRICH
DETROIT FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Ford Motor Co. will stop producing the controversial Excursion sport-utility vehicle following the 2004 model year, according to news reports Tuesday.

As the biggest, burliest SUV sold in the United States -- nearly 19 feet long and weighing about 7,200 pounds -- the Excursion was attacked by social critics who accused Ford of environmental irresponsibility. And its elimination, reported first by WDIV-TV (Channel 4) in Detroit, would end Ford's original plans to create a second-generation model that could sell for the remainder of the decade.

Sara Tatchio, a Ford spokeswoman, said the automaker could not speculate on product plans. Tatchio acknowledged the Excursion made some enemies initially, but said the controversy has largely died down.

"It's extremely well-liked by consumers," Tatchio said. "The Excursion remains in our lineup for 2003, and that's all I can add."

Sales have been somewhat disappointing, down 17 percent through June from a year ago, selling 15,107 units through June.

Taller and longer than even GM's Chevy Suburban, the nine-passenger Excursion delivered about 12 m.p.g. and proved too tall to fit in many garages.

Ford released the Excursion in 1999, when sport-utilities were topping each other for size and room, but it quickly proved that bigger wasn't always better. The lumbering Excursion failed to unseat the Suburban as the sales king among full-size SUVs.

The Excursion stumbled from the start, in part because of a wave of negative publicity from environmental groups such as the Sierra Club.

Even before the Excursion was officially introduced, the Sierra Club ran a contest on its Web site to choose a nickname for the vehicle. The winner was the Ford Valdez, after the Exxon tanker that ran aground in Alaska.

Tuesday night, Carl Pope, the executive director of the Sierra Club, hailed the Excursion's pending demise. "I think this is a sign that the age of dinosaurs is about to come to an end," he said.

The Excursion's introduction came less than a year after William Clay Ford Jr., an avowed environmentalist and great-grandson of the company's founder, became chairman in 1998. Ford found himself in the awkward spot of having to justify the vehicle, which the Sierra Club contended would emit 130 tons of carbon dioxide over its lifetime, compared with 23 tons for a car.

An auto analyst who requested anonymity said the decision took him somewhat by surprise. The Excursion, based on the existing Super-Duty F250 pickup platform, cost Ford very little to design and produce, he said.

While sales are down this year, the roughly $41,000 Excursion delivers $10,000 or more in profits for each sale.

The Excursion is built at Ford's Kentucky Truck Assembly plant in Louisville, alongside the Super-Duty F-Series pickup. Eliminating the Excursion would likely have little effect on the plant's 5,700 hourly workers, analysts said.