Ford Explorer Sport Model Overview

The Ford Explorer Sport was a niche model that got left behind as Ford marketed the Explorer, its flagship midsize SUV, increasingly to a suburban family-transportation market.

The Explorer Sport, based on the entry-level XLS trim of 2000, maintained a separate brand identity designed to appeal to drivers who had been drawn to the earlier Explorer models for their ruggedness and off-road potential.

As the Explorer's wheelbase grew, and as its interior became more lush, the Explorer Sport (which kept the 2000 platform) looked smaller and more agile in comparison to its suburban cousin.

It was the success of the Ford Escape, launched in 2001, that finally proved to be the end of the Explorer Sport. Rather than redesign the outdated model, the suits in Dearborn decided simply to discontinue the Explorer Sport and leave that market niche to the Escape.