(Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co. began taking orders Thursday for a restyled version of its venerable Explorer sport-utility vehicle, updated with new and improved technology. But there’s one option no longer available : a hybrid powertrain.

The 2025 Explorer, the sixth edition of the SUV that’s been a top-seller for Ford for more than three decades, won’t be offered in a gasoline-electric version when it arrives in dealers’ showrooms this summer, even as the automaker seeks to boost hybrid sales. The popular SUV’s hybrid version — which hasn’t been a best seller for Ford — is being limited to law enforcement fleet buyers as the Police Interceptor squad car.

“We’re reserving all our hybrid powertrains for our Police Interceptor vehicles,” Craig Patterson, Ford’s SUV marketing manager, told reporters at a briefing last month on the new Explorer. “That’s where we really see the demand.”

The move comes as hybrid sales accelerate as mainstream Americans seek an economical middle ground between traditional gasoline-fueled cars and all-electric vehicles. It also stands in contrast with the pivot Ford Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley is making toward hybrids as sales growth for electric vehicles slows. He’s set a goal to quadruple hybrid sales over the next five years by offering the gas-electric powertrain throughout the automaker’s lineup, while slashing prices and production of fully electric vehicles.

While Ford’s hybrid sales jumped 25% last year, it still lags Toyota Motor Corp., Hyundai Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. in the US hybrid market. General Motors Co. CEO Mary Barra said this week the company is getting back into the gas-electric game by bringing plug-in hybrid technology to US models from its overseas operations.

The underwhelming fuel-savings provided by Ford’s hybrid Explorer have put it behind other gas-electric offerings from the automaker, led by the Maverick tiny truck and the hybrid F-150 pickup, which combined sold more than 100,000 hybrid-powered trucks last year.

Poor MPG Rating

By contrast, Ford sold fewer than 7,500 hybrid Explorers, accounting for just 4% of the SUV’s sales last year, including those sold to police fleets, according to researcher AutoForecast Solutions. Toyota sold nearly 100,000 Highlander and Grand Highlander hybrids last year, making it the mid-sized hybrid SUV leader. Critics dinged the 27-miles-per gallon hybrid Explorer for not stacking up well against the Highlander’s 36 mpg.   

The Maverick hybrid boasts a combined 37 average mpg and the hybrid F-150 gets about 25 mpg, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, both very respectable results for their respective vehicle segments.  

Farley has said Ford will offer an all-electric three-row SUV next year, which some analysts expect to be badged an Explorer. Sales growth for pure electric vehicles is expected to slow to 11% this year, down from 47% last year, according to a forecast by UBS Group AG, as buyers balk at high prices and a spotty charging infrastructure for battery powered models. 

But US car buyers may not have seen the last of the hybrid Explorer. AutoForecast Solutions predicts it will return as soon as 2026 in order to help Ford meet increasingly stringent federal regulations on greenhouse gas emissions.

“The internal combustion engine version of the Explorer is going to remain in production for the foreseeable future, so they’re going to need a hybrid for emissions reasons,” said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global forecasting for AutoForecast Solutions. “The emissions regulations require you to clean up your act.”

For now, the gasoline-only Explorer gets freshened front-end styling and a roomier interior with a larger 13.2-inch touchscreen loaded with a new infotainment system Ford developed through a partnership with Google-parent Alphabet Inc. The Explorer’s starting price rises to around $41,000 from about $38,000 for the previous model.

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