BRAVE NEW WORLD: EXPLORER LEAVES ITS TRUCKY ROOTS; BUYERS ARE ON BOARD

摘要

THE FORD EXPLORER originally bowed in 1990, and over the next 20-plus years, the body-on-frame midsize SUV not only helped define a segment, it often led the sales charge, wearing the mantle of best-selling SUV for most of its existence. For all that success, Ford says the Explorer boasts a 93 percent brand awareness, third only to the Mustang and F-150 in its lineup. Of course, by 2011, much of the SUV landscape had shifted around the Explorer. For one, many of us refer to the breed as a "crossover" instead, with the term sport-utility vehicle relegated to a smattering of larger, truckier fare. It's not exactly that cut and dried; automotive segment-defining is a dark art, but regardless, it's a fact that most higher-riding, cargo-hauling, multi-passenger, all-wheel-drive-capable vehicles are unibody designs today.