It looks like Ford is going to win the sport-utility pickup race, since the Detroit-based firm has announced it will bring the Explorer Sport Trac into the Canadian and U.S. markets next year as a 2001 model.
The Sport Trac, which was promised as a production vehicle back in January, should be in Canada in the first couple of months of 2000, likely with a pricetag starting in the low-$30,000s.
Ford has previously announced its intentions in this category with the Lincoln Blackwood, which is a Navigator front and cabin with a small F-150 bed and is due out late next year as a 2001. This is academic here, however, since Ford of Canada has decided not to import the luxury pickup; it's too expensive, Ford says, and will only come in 4x2 configuration, which makes it less appealing here.
In a few months, Ford is also going to launch the F-150 Super Crew with four doors, seating for five and a smaller bed, but the company views that as a pickup with work intentions rather than a sport-utility with play intentions.
Nissan was the other company that seemed to have a shot at creating a cushy sport-utility cabin with an open box where a covered cargo bay normally is, but the Japanese firm has not been able to get its Sport Utility Truck onto the market yet. At best, it should be here sometime next year.
General Motors is also widely believed to be working on a sport-ute with a pickup bed, though the company is just now rolling out brand new versions of the models it would probably use -- GMC Yukon and Chevrolet Tahoe -- so we probably won't see anything from them for a while.