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Introduced in 2000 for the 2001 model year, the Explorer Sport Trac was a five-seat SUV with an open cargo area that built on the wild success of the namesake vehicle.
Many years before Ford offered the Maverick small pickup truck, which shares a platform with the Escape and Bronco Sport, the company produced the Explorer Sport Trac, based on the namesake SUV, which helped Ford pioneer the SUV market in the 1990s.
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Explorer Sport Trac built on the wildly popular Explorer SUV which had sold more than three million units by the late-1990s.
The Sport Trac was conceived as Ford’s 1996 Adrenalin concept, which received such great interest that it had to be pulled from the auto show circuit over concerns of the prototype being damaged. Introduced in 2001 and dubbed “the Swiss Army knife of SUVs,” the Sport Trac included seating for five passengers, as well as front bucket seats unique to the vehicle. Its four-foot cargo box – extendable up to six feet with the addition of Ford’s heavy-duty, stainless steel cargo cage – could be driven open or locked shut with an available lockable hard tonneau cover. The vehicle also included a removable divider to partition the rear area and a weatherproof 12-volt power point.
Several hundred hours of customer research with SUV and pickup truck owners led to the insight that SUV owners were looking for open cargo area. While the Sport Trac delivered that with the industry’s first composite open cargo area, it also offered improved ride and handling compared to compact pickups with Crew Cab configurations. As with Maverick, Ford intended to reach a new segment of consumers with a do-it-yourself mindset and outdoor sports enthusiasts, who had not previously owned a pickup and needed more flexibility in cargo hauling.
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Dubbed “the Swiss Army knife of SUVs,” the Sport Trac’s four-foot cargo box was extendable up to six feet with the addition of Ford’s heavy-duty cargo cage.
Explorer Sport Trac’s frame was extended by just over a foot compared to the base model and made significantly stiffer for added agility. The vehicle featured an optional power rear window, an industry first in an SUV or truck, as well as a washable rubber floor, one of the many ways Ford engineers worked to control sound in the vehicle’s cabin.
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Explorer Sport Trac was produced from the 2001 model year until 2010.
Explorer Sport Trac, which shared about 80% of its parts with the four-door Explorer of that era, was assembled at Louisville Assembly Plant. It was powered by a 4.0L V6 engine capable of delivering 205 horsepower and 238 lb.-ft. of torque. Offered in two- and four-wheel-drive models, Explorer Sport Trac went on sale in early 2000 as a 2001 model and, after a brief pause beginning in 2005, was produced from 2006 until 2010.
Explorer Sport Trac was a bold experiment that bridged the gap between SUVs and pickup trucks, and though its production run was relatively short, its innovative spirit and focus on versatility paved the way for future models like the Ford Maverick.
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