1. Industry History and Current Overview Since the invention of Ford's Model T, the modern automotive industry has produced affordable automobiles for everyone in the U.S. The era of automobile design exploded as people began to demand greater customization of their cars (the Model T was only black). This began the shift from a production-oriented automobile to a more design-oriented automobile. The Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) emerged in the 1990s based on the negative image of the minivan, which was developed during the 1980s on a bland, purely functional platform. . In 1996, Ford Motor Company began building the Expedition, its new full-size SUV in Michigan. The Expedition was essentially the F-150 pickup truck (the best-selling pickup truck) with an extra set of doors and two more rows of seats. Ford marketed the SUV at a ticket price of thirty-six thousand dollars. The average cost to build these trucks was no more than twenty-four thousand dollars, and in the automotive industry that is a high profit margin. By the late 1990s, the SUV market became the most profitable in the automotive industry. The shift to more aggressively styled, higher-riding vehicles has caused unwanted consequences and risks. Risks include reduced “driveability,” obstruction of vision, and concerns about surrounding safety. Current trends in vehicle design focus on addressing these issues to achieve attractive designs with the best qualities of both cars and trucks, as seen in all new Land Rover designs. 2004 will be remembered as a pivotal year in the automotive industry. It was a year in which high gasoline prices kicked off a seismic shift among U.S. consumers that will ultimately create significant demand for fuel-efficient vehicles. Gasoline prices of more than $2 a gallon have begun to make a huge impact on household budgets, and many middle-class consumers who own fuel-guzzling SUVs and pickup trucks have begun to wish for much less expensive vehicles to manage. The demand for hybrid cars (i.e. Toyota Prius) was so high that many customers had to wait six months or more to get the car. Other automakers, including Ford and GM, saw the opportunity and brought their own brand of hybrid vehicles to market. Ford has launched its first hybrid: a small SUV. Other fuel-efficient vehicles, such as BMW's MINI Cooper, have also enjoyed soaring demand. Meanwhile, sales of heavy-duty SUVs have lagged miserably, and automakers like Chevy, Hummer and Cadillac have offered dealers unprecedented incentives and discounts in an effort to move these vehicles. Rover The Range Rover has grown thanks to newly developed efficient models, as shown by the statistics below.