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Sales of the Flex are scheduled to begin in the summer of 2008 as a 2009 model. A pre-production Ford Flex was donated to the Woodhouse Family on the January 13, 2008 episode of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. It enters the crossover vehicle market as an alternative to the traditional family-oriented minivans and sport utility vehicles. Ford made the decision to cancel production of the Ford Freestar and Mercury Monterey minivans, which suffered from weakening sales and profit margins, relative to competitive minivans from Chrysler and Dodge, and Asian-based automakers. As fuel prices increased in the United States, consumer preferences shifted away from truck-based SUVs towards car-based crossover utility vehicles, which tend to have better fuel economy. The Flex provides a product for the large crossover vehicle market, blending some of the people-moving capacity of the minivan, and some light cargo and trailer hauling capacity of the SUV. In price, it would slot between the Taurus X and the truck-based Explorer, while in size, it would slot between the Taurus X and Expedition.
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