Sized between the Ranger (whose crew cab variants were sold outside of North America) and the F-150, the Sport Trac largely competed against crew-cab variants of the midsize Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon, Dodge Dakota, Nissan Frontier, and Toyota Tacoma.

Closely matching the Sport Trac in size, the fourth-generation Ford Ranger serves the same market function in its SuperCrew four-door crew cab configuration.

Introduced in February 2000 as an early 2001 model, the Ford Explorer Sport Trac was brought to market.

While marketed as a variant of the Ford Explorer SUV model line, the Sport Trac was functionally a crew-cab mid-size pickup truck.

In terms of layout, the Sport Trac was followed by the Chevrolet Avalanche and Honda Ridgeline, both crew cab pickup truck derived from SUVs.

Designed specifically for the Sport Trac, the 50-inch long pickup bed was constructed entirely of plastic composite material; the tailgate was shared with the Ford F-150 SuperCrew.

Adopting many updates of the 2006 redesign of the Ford Explorer/Mercury Mountaineer, the Sport Trac received a redesigned frame and the introduction of several safety features, including stability control and active rollover protection, marketed as AdvanceTrac and Roll Stability Control.

For the first time the Sport Trac offered a V8 engine option, the 292 hp (218 kW) 4.6L 24-valve Modular V8 used in the F-150 pickups.

Again derived from a lengthened Ford Explorer, the second-generation Sport Trac was fitted with a plastic composite pickup truck bed.

Powered by a supercharged version of the 4.6L V8 (producing 390 hp (291 kW)), the Adrenalin was intended as a 2007 successor for the F-150 Lightning pickup truck.