If a price increass in the middle of the forest and nobody hears it....

Is it still a price increase? Of course it is. Ford Motor Co. hiked prices on its 1996 Explorer by $200 and on the F-150 by between $385 and $400. An entry-level Explorer now starts at $19,770 and a base F-150 begins at $14,815. And there's another price hike on the way for the new model year. What you give up in passenger-car rebates, why not take back on hot-selling pickups and sport-utes. Hey, it's simply supply and demand. Explorer sales are up 8.5% through the first half of 1996. The new F-150 is running 19.5% ahead of last year's pace.