Will The Real Cross-Over Vehicle Please Roll Forward

The Ford Explorer, arguably the Mother Ship of SUV design and icon of a fuel-excessive US life style, has been surpassed in sales by a mid-size hybrid. What more need we say?

Americans bought more Toyota Prius hybrid gas-electric hatchbacks last year than Ford Explorer sport-utility vehicles, the top-selling SUV for more than a decade.

The change of fortune, buried in U.S. vehicle-sales data for 2007 and unthinkable a few years ago, will find an echo at this year's Detroit auto show, which starts Sunday.

Via::MSNBC --> Financial Times, "Toyota Prius sales pass Ford Explorer. The icon of America's SUV passion falls victim to stubbornly high gas prices and an increasingly stringent regulatory climate."

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