Ford Escape Remains On Track For Discontinuation By 2026: Report

[akirby]

1 hour ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

But your argument isn't any different then what your saying with the Focus getting replaced by the Ranger-The Edge/MKX where replaced by different products in the lineup like I mentioned that might appeal to that demographic that would have bought them. Like I have said before-don't mistake the vocal minority with who actually buys things.

 

If that was the case, I could give you a list of cars that should have sold well over the past 20 years like wagons, stick shifts, etc. 

 

But Edge was not replaced by Mach E or Bronco - it coexisted with them for several years.  The factory replacement for Edge was the 3 row EVs which never happened.

[DeluxeStang]

1 hour ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

But sales numbers of sedans over the past 15 years have been in decline. 

 

I think what a lot of people miss is that there is a substantial amount of buyers out there that don't give a shit or buy the cheapest thing possible without any other considerations. 

 

I also believe Ford is targeting the ones that do give or want something "extra" in their products, because more often then not they'll be loyal buyers down the road. 

Valid points, but I don't think it's a monolith. As is the case with most other product segments, I believe there are sedan buyers who are very passionate, sedan buyers who couldn't care less and will just buy the cheapest product, and most people who fall somewhere in-between. 

 

We often talk about the shortcomings of Ford sedans. But they were never really anything special, the fusion and Tarus had some bright spots for sure, but as a whole package, they never really had that extra spice that turned them into must have products. 

 

Even the Tarus sho and high performance fusions, yeah they were fast, but beyond that, in terms of design, in terms of tech, they didn't do much to stand out from the run of the mill variants of those cars. 

 

We know now most people who want fun cars for instance want those cars to look interesting. Most buyers don't want sleepers. It's a pretty comparable issue to what the Chevy ss had where the performance was solid, but it looked like a bland, generic sedan, and that was a turn off for a lot of people. 

[DeluxeStang]

5 hours ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

The world wide Auto manufacturing base is way over due for a consolation-as a stock holder, I don't have an issue with Ford prevailing in commercial sales vs consumer sales because the consumer market is going to change quite a bit over the next 20 years-I'm not saying self driving cars are going to be a thing (they will but not in as big of an impact as some people are expecting), but with demographics getting older and younger people not as interested in driving, there are going to be some major changes coming. 

 

Commercially I don't see changes being as impactful

I think young people are still interested in driving, and passionate about cars, heck, I'm one of them. But there's not a lot out here for us. I mean, what did young people in the 60s, or the 90s have? A ton of relatively affordable enthusiasts cars to buy. 

 

What do younger car enthusiasts really have today? A bunch of white jelly bean crossovers. Sure, you have the mustang Ecoboost, but most dealers I've seen option those into the 40s. Not to mention there's negative stereotypes surrounding the ecoboost that hurts its appeal. People don't want to buy a mustang and constantly have to defend it from people asking why they didn't buy a V8. 

 

You have the Miata, and gr86, two cars that are the size of a shoebox, and I believe those cars are two seater only, meaning insurance is gonna be pretty hefty for young buyers. Not to mention the gr86 seems to have a lot of reliability issues. 

 

There aren't a ton of fun affordable enthusiasts products on the market, and most of the ones you'll find are horrifically compromised in one way or another. I firmly believe the affordable, fun, reliable new car segment is horrifically underserved at the moment. There's an argument to be had that maverick and bronco sport are the best models currently in the market when it comes to serving this need, though I've heard the BS reliability is a little iffy. 

 

I don't believe Ford should stop at maverick and BS. They have lightning in a bottle with these fun, affordable, compact cars, and I want to see them keep pushing the idea, and see what other sorts of products it leads to. That's why I'm so passionate about c2 and CE1, because if executed well, they lay the foundation for a whole lineup of fun affordable cars making a return, something we haven't seen in decades. 

 

I firmly believe Ford could dominate the affordable aspirational vehicle market if they act swiftly. 

Edited May 19, 2025 by DeluxeStang

[Sherminator98]

27 minutes ago, akirby said:

 

But Edge was not replaced by Mach E or Bronco - it coexisted with them for several years.  The factory replacement for Edge was the 3 row EVs which never happened.

 

So the Edge is getting replaced by the Super Duty 😛

 

[Sherminator98]

24 minutes ago, DeluxeStang said:

Valid points, but I don't think it's a monolith. As is the case with most other product segments, I believe there are sedan buyers who are very passionate, sedan buyers who couldn't care less and will just buy the cheapest product, and most people who fall somewhere in-between. 

 

the passionate buyers for sedans didn't save them from shrinking numbers either, which would indicate the people aren't the passionate or care that much. 

[DeluxeStang]

1 minute ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

the passionate buyers for sedans didn't save them from shrinking numbers either, which would indicate the people aren't the passionate or care that much. 

That's true, but maybe Ford is to blame here to a degree by not providing the right sort of products. I won't deny most Ford sedan buyers aren't passionate enthusiasts, but that could be because the products themselves didn't evoke a ton of passion. 

 

It's kinda like how decades ago, small trucks gradually lost their appeal. For years and years, all we heard was how there was no business case for the return of small affordable trucks, and how they'd fail if they made a return. But the maverick has proved all those people wrong. I'd argue it's because the maverick isn't just some half baked POS, it's actually a good vehicle with real effort put into it. It brought unique ideas to the table, like offering a hybrid powertrain so it could equal and surpass the fuel economy of most small cars. 

 

The small affordable truck segment was even more dead in the states than sedans are, yet with the right product, the right sort of differentiation, and the right timing, they made a comeback. I understand what you and Akirby are saying, but I'm a firm believer that nothing is forever in the automotive world, and with the right product, and the right approach, past ideas can be revived in a way that helps a company thrive. 

[Sherminator98]

11 minutes ago, DeluxeStang said:

I think young people are still interested in driving, and passionate about cars, heck, I'm one of them. But there's not a lot out here for us. I mean, what did young people in the 60s, or the 90s have? A ton of relatively affordable enthusiasts cars to buy. 

 

I bought a 98 Mustang GT when I got out of the Army, that i saved for over 4 years, including a 10 month deployment to Bosnia 

 

Trust me, it wasn't "affordable", but I gave up other things to have it. My income when I got out dropped nearly in half due to me going to school full time and I also went into the Army Guard to help pay car insurance on it. 

 

Looking at the past is often with rose colored glasses without any nuance. Its like my parents buying a house for $26K in 1972 and having a $300 a month mortgage payment, but only making $5 bucks an hour at the time. It was only "cheap" 20 years later when my dad was making $65K a year or $30 an hour. 

[akirby]

23 minutes ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

So the Edge is getting replaced by the Super Duty 😛

 

Not directly.  I don’t believe Ford would have cancelled Edge just for Super Duty.  But once the 3 row EVs were killed they had to find something.

[DeluxeStang]

11 minutes ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

the passionate buyers for sedans didn't save them from shrinking numbers either, which would indicate the people aren't the passionate or care that much. 

Par

 

7 minutes ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

I bought a 98 Mustang GT when I got out of the Army, that i saved for over 4 years, including a 10 month deployment to Bosnia 

 

Trust me, it wasn't "affordable", but I gave up other things to have it. My income when I got out dropped nearly in half due to me going to school full time and I also went into the Army Guard to help pay car insurance on it. 

 

Looking at the past is often with rose colored glasses without any nuance. Its like my parents buying a house for $26K in 1972 and having a $300 a month mortgage payment, but only making $5 bucks an hour at the time. It was only "cheap" 20 years later when my dad was making $65K a year or $30 an hour. 

Perhaps I should say things weren't cheap, or affordable, but they were more affordable than they were now is a more accurate assessment. I just believe we're due for a correction with a lot of consumer goods, cars and homes being the most obvious ones. 

 

My folks bought a 7 bedroom three story home in the suburbs outside of Salt Lake for 390 in 2012. Today, that house is worth about 750, at its peak it was over 900 because everyone is moving to Utah, why someone would want to move to Utah, I have no idea lol. But things have just increased so much in value that I don't believe it's sustainable long term. 

 

My grandparents purchased a home in Seattle back in the 60s for about 20k. They recently sold that home for 1.4 million. Off the top of my head, I want to say adjusting for inflation, they paid the equivalent of about 250-300 grand for it. It's a nice house, but no way should it be worth 1.4 million even if it's in a nice area. 

[akirby]

18 minutes ago, DeluxeStang said:

That's true, but maybe Ford is to blame here to a degree by not providing the right sort of products. I won't deny most Ford sedan buyers aren't passionate enthusiasts, but that could be because the products themselves didn't evoke a ton of passion. 

 

It's kinda like how decades ago, small trucks gradually lost their appeal. For years and years, all we heard was how there was no business case for the return of small affordable trucks, and how they'd fail if they made a return. But the maverick has proved all those people wrong. I'd argue it's because the maverick isn't just some half baked POS, it's actually a good vehicle with real effort put into it. It brought unique ideas to the table, like offering a hybrid powertrain so it could equal and surpass the fuel economy of most small cars. 

 

The small affordable truck segment was even more dead in the states than sedans are, yet with the right product, the right sort of differentiation, and the right timing, they made a comeback. I understand what you and Akirby are saying, but I'm a firm believer that nothing is forever in the automotive world, and with the right product, and the right approach, past ideas can be revived in a way that helps a company thrive. 

The only reason we have a Ranger is because Bronco shares the platform and factory.  As a stand alone product it wouldn’t be worth it.

 

What you really seem to want is a fun sporty hatchback.  There are two problems with that.  First is the unintended consequence of CAFE which makes it difficult to sell smaller cars.  Second is to amortize the costs you need a lot of volume which can only come from cheaper more boring versions which are commodities and sell mainly on price.  We saw this with Focus.  ST and RS were great vehicles that nobody bought and they lost money on the rest.

 

EVs have really killed small cars just because of the shift in resources.  They’re the most expendable also thanks to CAFE.

[akirby]

Also the shift away from cars to utilities and trucks have lowered volumes dramatically.  What made sense for a 300k annual volume vehicle doesn’t necessarily hold for 100k.

 

Could that change back to more cars?  Maybe but I doubt it.  

[ehaase]

I wonder if CAFE footprint rules will push the Bronco Sport to Edge size and the regular Bronco to Expedition size. I believe bzcat already said the next generation Maverick will have to be larger, and I wonder if that would make the Ranger redundant. 

[Sherminator98]

24 minutes ago, ehaase said:

I wonder if CAFE footprint rules will push the Bronco Sport to Edge size and the regular Bronco to Expedition size. I believe bzcat already said the next generation Maverick will have to be larger, and I wonder if that would make the Ranger redundant. 

 

Depends on how much of it is offset by the affordable EVs...

 

If you think about it, we are in going into a transitionary period over the next 10-15 years and it also depends on how much the current administration can or is willing to change CAFE, which can always be changed back. 

 

I'd venture to guess that the Bronco will get an EREV setup like the Scout, but I'm not sure how the impact of that is when it comes to CAFE. C sized products that are unibody would move to a EV platform. I'd guess anything under 185 inches overall length or so would get an EV setup in the next 10 years. Larger products like the Ranger and F-150 would get EREV setups also, since I'm guessing they would get better MPGs then a standard HEV or PHEV? Not much data on fueleconomy.gov to see how it works. 

[rmc523]

On 5/18/2025 at 2:11 AM, jpd80 said:

Just thinking about this in the least disruptive way, the YM 26 Escape and Corsair 

could continue for the rest of this year and into 2026 with a mission to forward build

sufficient numbers to carry sales like Ford did with the Edge….

 

Seriously, I think we each could pick a preferred plan and probably be right

for at least some time between now and when all is finally revealed….

 

If the product plans in the Ford communication from last August is still on track,

then a eTransit arriving in 2026 and a mid sized BEV pickup in 2027 could still be

true without changing the plan save for delaying the plant shutdown for say,

six to eight months?

 

It interesting to think how Ford might be playing this, maybe C2 Escape continuing

for now has become a higher priority than the CE1 pickup…..or maybe the CE1s

are now moving so that a new batch of C2s can follow on after 

Escape ends…

 

I think I agree with the assessment of it being a move to boost inventory ahead of plant shutdown and product cancellation.

 

On 5/18/2025 at 9:55 AM, twintornados said:

 

Then they need to do a couple of things - my girlfriend bought a 2024 Escape and considered the Bronco Sport but no matter what trim level you got, no power rear hatch on BS, but available on Escape ST-Line. Hood on BS was "too intrusive" for her liking as well. Those two issues caused her to go with Escape over Bronco Sport. It is as simple as that.

 

I didn't realize there was no power liftgate on any BS model.

 

6 hours ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

Once again those products where replaced by other products that went into a completely different direction-

 

I've argued that the Edge market was covered by the Mach E and the Bronco to an extent. The Maverick replaced the Focus and Fiesta as a low cost product. 

 

I still disagree with that idea too - the three coexisted for a while, and Edge sales were still healthy.

[Sherminator98]

26 minutes ago, rmc523 said:

I didn't realize there was no power liftgate on any BS model.

 

Its because it has a separate glass like the old Explorer or Escape do. I'm guessing its partly due to that since it would be really easy to break it while that was open and then open the hatch. 

 

I haven't heard my wife complain about not having it on her BS vs her old Escape. 

[rmc523]

1 hour ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

Its because it has a separate glass like the old Explorer or Escape do. I'm guessing its partly due to that since it would be really easy to break it while that was open and then open the hatch. 

 

I haven't heard my wife complain about not having it on her BS vs her old Escape. 

 

Expedition had a separate liftglass for years and has had a power liftgate.

[jpd80]

2 hours ago, rmc523 said:

 

I think I agree with the assessment of it being a move to boost inventory ahead of plant shutdown and product cancellation.

The good part is that a delay buys Ford time

and with the way things are changing recently,

that’s a precious commodity when it comes to 

making Product decision.

Keeping Escape around also keeps the hybrid version

as something they don’t have in Bronco Sport.

 

Longer term, I would love to see Escape and Edge replaced 

by 76” wide 2 row SWB and a 3-row LWB on same platform 

much like Ford China with Equator and Equator Sport (Teritory)

Not saying those exactly but proper C2s using that idea.

 

There’s gotta be a way to round up all the nice, viable C2 possibilities 

into a plant like Louisville and move CE1 to a better facility.

Edited May 19, 2025 by jpd80

[rmc523]

Also, there was discussion above about C2 being amortized already, but I'd push back a bit and say that if you keep dropping models off the platform, the less economies of scale you'll get.

[akirby]

2 hours ago, rmc523 said:

Also, there was discussion above about C2 being amortized already, but I'd push back a bit and say that if you keep dropping models off the platform, the less economies of scale you'll get.

To a point but I was referring to the cost of developing the platform initially and I’m sure they’ve sold enough C2 vehicles to pay for that several times over.  Edge, Nautilus, Corsair, Zephyr, Mondeo, Mondeo Sport, Bronco Sport, Maverick, Escape, Focus, Transit Connect.

[twintornados]

33 minutes ago, akirby said:

To a point but I was referring to the cost of developing the platform initially and I’m sure they’ve sold enough C2 vehicles to pay for that several times over.  Edge, Nautilus, Corsair, Zephyr, Mondeo, Mondeo Sport, Bronco Sport, Maverick, Escape, Focus, Transit Connect.

 

I have owned several cars built off the C2 chassis...most currently, the Maverick, and it is a delightful experience.

[mackinaw]

16 minutes ago, twintornados said:

I have owned several cars built off the C2 chassis...most currently, the Maverick, and it is a delightful experience.

 

Ditto with our Bronco Sport.  Even after four years of ownership, this thing is a joy to drive.

[DeluxeStang]

8 hours ago, akirby said:

The only reason we have a Ranger is because Bronco shares the platform and factory.  As a stand alone product it wouldn’t be worth it.

 

What you really seem to want is a fun sporty hatchback.  There are two problems with that.  First is the unintended consequence of CAFE which makes it difficult to sell smaller cars.  Second is to amortize the costs you need a lot of volume which can only come from cheaper more boring versions which are commodities and sell mainly on price.  We saw this with Focus.  ST and RS were great vehicles that nobody bought and they lost money on the rest.

 

EVs have really killed small cars just because of the shift in resources.  They’re the most expendable also thanks to CAFE.

What if Ford made some sort of interesting small car based on CE1? It would need unique software and suspension tuning, but who's to say it couldn't share the battery pack, electric motors, and other hardware components with higher volume CE1 models? If it was an EV, wouldn't meeting CAFE standards be a non issue or close to it? 

 

But I do agree with some of your points. The stricter emissions standards surrounding smaller cars is why we'll never see the small, affordable, but V8 powered mustang enthusiasts are asking for. 

[DeluxeStang]

1 hour ago, twintornados said:

 

I have owned several cars built off the C2 chassis...most currently, the Maverick, and it is a delightful experience.

Yeah, loving our maverick close to 3 years in. The only issue I've had really is the factory 12V isn't great, so it's constantly going into battery saver mode lol. I'm probably gonna swap a AGM battery in and hope that resolves the issue. But it's a really solid package overall, especially for the price we paid. 

[akirby]

18 minutes ago, DeluxeStang said:

What if Ford made some sort of interesting small car based on CE1? It would need unique software and suspension tuning, but who's to say it couldn't share the battery pack, electric motors, and other hardware components with higher volume CE1 models? If it was an EV, wouldn't meeting CAFE standards be a non issue or close to it? 

 

But I do agree with some of your points. The stricter emissions standards surrounding smaller cars is why we'll never see the small, affordable, but V8 powered mustang enthusiasts are asking for. 

EVs are a clean sheet so anything is possible.  CAFE is not an issue and there are no EV commodities yet.

[akirby]

16 minutes ago, DeluxeStang said:

Yeah, loving our maverick close to 3 years in. The only issue I've had really is the factory 12V isn't great, so it's constantly going into battery saver mode lol. I'm probably gonna swap a AGM battery in and hope that resolves the issue. But it's a really solid package overall, especially for the price we paid. 

Definitely replace it after 3 years.  Make sure you reset the BMS - Google and you’ll find the procedure to do it yourself.