Big, ostentatious trucks and SUVs are back—like it or not. With General Motors resurrecting Hummer as a GMC-badged electric vehicle and Jeep reportedly dusting off the Grand Wagoneer name for its flagship SUV, the Blue Oval appears to be digging into its own archive and bringing back the Excursion from the early-to-mid 2000s.
That’s if a recent trademark application by Ford with the United States Patent and Trademark Office is anything to go by. Filed on April 24, the application seeks to use the name for “Motor vehicles, namely, automobiles, pick-up trucks, electric vehicles, sport utility vehicles, off-road vehicles, and their structural parts.”
Admittedly, that’s a rather broad array of potential uses for the name. Nevertheless, it wouldn’t surprise us if Ford pins the moniker onto a large EV truck or SUV that aims to take on the forthcoming GMC Hummer. That said, it’s possible Ford simply applied for trademark to protect the name from finding its way into the proverbial arms of a competing automaker.
First introduced for the 2000 model year, the Excursion sat above the already large Expedition in Ford’s SUV lineup. Whereas the Expedition shared its major components with the F-150 pickup, the Excursion cribbed its most important parts from the larger Ford F-Series Super Duty trucks. With a trio of engines available (including a V-10 and diesel V-8), the mammoth Excursion offered the size and towing appeal offered by its pickup counterpart with a wagon body that allowed for three rows of seats and plenty of (covered) room for miscellaneous items.
The model was short-lived, though, and by the middle of the decade, Ford pulled the plug on the big SUV. Still, the Excursion made quite the splash in its short life and it continues to amass a following of fans who appreciate its heavy-duty underpinnings and people-carrying capabilities.
Only time will tell if Ford brings this mighty SUV back from the dead, but given the company plans to reintroduce the Bronco as a 2021 model year vehicle, it wouldn’t surprise us to see the Excursion name return to the company’s model line before the end of the decade.
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