As utility vehicles continue to surge in popularity both in the US and abroad, Ford may be planning to drag one out of retirement in the North American market.

The automaker just filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office to secure the rights to the name "Excursion" as it applies to "motor vehicles, namely, automobiles, pick-up trucks, electric vehicles, sport utility vehicles, off-road vehicles, and their structural parts." Assuming Ford actually puts the trademark to use, and isn't simply keeping the "Excursion" name out of the hands of competitors, it could mean the return of a nameplate not seen in the US since 2005.

The last Ford Excursion, which enjoyed a relatively brief five-year production run, was based on the three-quarter-ton Ford F-250 Super Duty. At the time of its release, it was the biggest, heaviest SUV ever mass-produced, measuring just shy of 19 feet long and weighing almost four tons with the available Power Stroke turbo-diesel under the hood.

The Ford Excursion was effectively replaced after 2005 by the long-wheelbase version of the Ford Expedition, which shares its underpinnings with the light-duty F-150 - not a Super Duty truck.

Granted, if the Ford Excursion nameplate does stage a return, there's nothing to say that it would be anything like its forebear. Given how GM has repurposed the "Hummer" name, using it on a pure-electric line of truck and SUV models under the GMC banner, we could see Ford doing something similar. Plus, as the Blue Oval brand goes about shifting focus exclusively to trucks and utility vehicles, and building out its battery-electric lineup with vehicles like the Ford Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Electric, a bigger, more adventurous SUV would make sense.

That's just speculation, of course, but at this juncture, it might make more sense than introducing a new gas-guzzling four-ton behemoth. Oil went negative recently, after all.