When the Ford Everest made its public debut at the Bangkok Motor Show in 2001, you can’t imagine the amount of buzz it generated: the first SUV that’s practical as it’s affordable.  No more will people have to suffer through ancient AUVs with equally inefficient and unrefined drive trains.  For once, here’s a vehicle that’s formidable both on and off road.  At the same time, it was a return to the grass roots of the family SUV: no more dizzying variants of twelve or fourteen.  The Everest simply had two: 4x2 and 4x4.

Fast forward a year or so later, and the Everest made its way to the various Ford showrooms.  As promised, it was formidable with a more refined turbo diesel engine and a well-organized interior.  Unlike its rivals of that time, it carried 7 in complete comfort as well as improving on features such as air conditioning and flexible seating/cargo capacity.  It too, brought safety equipment to the masses.  Stuff such as airbags, anti-lock brakes and electronic brakeforce distribution made its way to a truly affordable SUV.  For all it’s worth, it should have been the king of the sales charts, and not just the specification sheet.  So what happened?

In a word: price.  Although marketing pundits term the Everest as a mid-sized SUV, the segment barely existed at the time.  So while it claimed to have been dominating its rivals, it could and should have entered the true mainstream, fighting against the likes of the Adventure, Crosswind and Revo.  By all means, it could have pummeled its rivals if it were priced below the 1.215 million peso price tag it originally had.

Now, the market is very, very different.  The AUV is dead, and everyone has moved on.  Mitsubishi may be sticking their guns with a revamped Adventure, but it has introduced the Montero Sport.  Meanwhile, Isuzu has the Sportivo and Alterra and Toyota, the Innova and Fortuner.  So, where does that leave the Everest—the pioneer in a segment it helped create?  Spending a week behind the wheel only reaffirmed anyone’s original guess: it’s not best-in-class, but it’s certainly not dead in the water.

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