As the old adage has it “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”
The Ford Explorer was once one of the biggest of them all, rolling off the car lots by the hundreds of thousands per year around the world since March of 1990. But a decade later, with the recent dramatic increases in gas prices and a call for all things clean and green, the Explorer became infamous for its gas consumption. It offered only 15 miles per gallon when new, hybrid minivans were getting about 40 miles for the same amount of gas.

Instead of scrapping the design altogether, Ford has been thinking up ways to bring it back to the market. The new Ford Explorer won’t exactly measure up to fuel-efficient minivan standards, but it will become the most fuel efficient vehicle in its segment at 28mpg for highway driving.

Although Ford doesn’t expect the once-Goliath to reach its former glory in sales, the company has done research that suggests that a more fuel efficient version of the Explorer has a niche market. This is despite the fact that many former Explorer owners have been forced to realize that they don’t really need a four-wheel-drive sport utility vehicle (SUV) that seats eight.

The bold move might have been spurred by the fact that the Ford Explorer was once the top selling SUV for 10 consecutive years. Sales peaked even at almost 450,000 units in 1998. However, only 52,190 were sold in 2009.

In any case, the overhauled version will be a 2011 model. The Ford Motor Company is not releasing much more information on its specifications apart from the expected fuel consumption already mentioned.

Ford may be banking on sentimentality for the familiar Explorer name, but they should also consider all of the bad memories of those who owned the gas guzzling SUV when its resale value took a dive.

View a previously written post by Mouli Cohen about Clean Energy.