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Hotel Booking The Ford Motor Company is rethinking its decision to stop making the Excursion, a large sport utility vehicle that has been a favorite target of criticism by environmental advocates.

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Travel Agency The company had decided last year to stop selling the Excursion after the 2004 model year because of declining sales, but said on Monday that it was reconsidering because industry demand had held up for the largest S.U.V.'s.

New travel plans must be reserved and travel completed one (1) year from the original booking date and are subject to availability.

Cheap Hotel "We are taking a second look at production," a Ford spokesman, Jon Harmon, said, adding that "the S.U.V. segment continues to grow despite what everybody keeps saying."

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Flight Booking The news was initially reported in the Oct. 20 issue of Ward's Automotive Reports, a trade publication.

It' cylinder foreign cars, but those of us who own them believe the added safety more than compensates for the extra fuel. cylinder engines. size monsters of the pavement also How about all the limos on the road today Should they also be banned The Ford Explorer, size SUV, cylinder models so one can choose gas mileage without giving up safety. It so happens that Ford sells more Explorers than any other SUV sold in the United States.

Travel Agent The most lucrative and robust areas of growth in the American market are in small and medium-size sport utility vehicles, as well as large pickup trucks. Early in the year, with oil prices rising during the Iraq war, the market for the largest S.U.V.'s flagged a bit.

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Hotel Chicago But sales have rebounded and market share held steady. Over all, large sport utilities made up 5.9 percent of vehicle sales through September, according to Ward's AutoInfoBank. Last year, they finished a bit over 5.8 percent.

Online Booking Competition for buyers of the largest S.U.V.'s has been heating up lately, with Nissan and Chrysler entering the market for the first time.

Travel Health Insurance The Nissan Motor Company recently started selling a big sport utility vehicle called the Pathfinder Armada. And the Dodge line of DaimlerChrysler has redesigned and supersized the Durango, making it seven inches longer, and both taller and wider by three inches.

Hotel Reservation This could make it difficult to maintain sales of the Excursion - which is 19 feet long, weighs about three and a half tons unloaded and gets about 10 miles to the gallon of gasoline, or in the mid-to-high-teens with a diesel engine. Sales in the last couple of years have fallen well short of Ford's initial goal of 50,000 vehicles a year. This year, through September, just under 18,000 Excursions were sold, down 22 percent from the corresponding period a year earlier.

London Hotel Booking Mr. Harmon said that the Excursion remained "a profitable vehicle for us" and added that Ford was rethinking its decision because of its industry forecasts. It is considering continuing only the diesel version, which Mr. Harmon said had towing abilities that many competitors lacked.

Discount Travel The news of the Excursion's potential rebirth was not welcome to environmental advocates.

Orlando Hotel After the Excursion went on sale in 1999, the Sierra Club had a contest to rename it and settled on the Valdez, after the Exxon oil tanker that ran aground off the Alaska coast. The club has since moved on to the Hummer and recently set up a Web site satirizing it.

Booking Agency Ford has had a topsy-turvy relationship with environmental groups in recent years. William Clay Ford Jr. was outspoken among Detroit executives on environmental matters before becoming chief executive in 2001.

International Travel Medical But with his company losing a total of $6.4 billion in 2001 and 2002, his main focus has been on returning to profitability. He has also committed to bringing to market next year what will probably be the first S.U.V. with a hybrid engine system that saves gasoline by using some electric power.

New York Hotel Environmental advocates were distressed earlier this year when a report by Ford said its S.U.V.'s were, on the whole, becoming less fuel-efficient.

Online Travel Booking "It's like a bad rerun of a bad movie," said Dan Becker, an energy expert at the Sierra Club, referring to the prospects that the Excursion might live on.

Travel Medical Insurance "We've been waiting to applaud Ford for doing something right," Mr. Becker said, "but it's getting to be a rather long wait."

Miami Hotel He was also not happy that the company was considering continuing just the diesel version of the Excursion. Diesels are more fuel-efficient but dirtier than gasoline engines, although steps have been taken to make diesels significantly cleaner than they once were.

Air Deccan Booking Mr. Harmon said that the diesel Excursion was "a cleaner vehicle than we're getting credit for."

Las Vegas Nevada Travel By Danny Hakim
New York Times - 10/28/2003

Topic: Transportation

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