That's been Ford's MO for 20 years now and they've seemingly never done anything to fix it.  Toyota can manage to make entire models hybrids selling double the amount yet Ford is always hybrid capacity limited....     I used to think the same of a dual pronged approach, but Escape clearly didn't hit the mark with that approach.  I also think you can try to leave that design approach to Mach-E.   Notice, I didn't say make Escape look like BS.  You make it a sleek boxy, so it targets a different buyer than BS, who likes the more utilitarian upright box shape.

But there's very clearly a market for both. If everything became boxy, the market for vehicles with the styling would become oversaturated. Ford has the boxy styling covered, but should explore other avenues. If escape and bronco sport are both compact crossovers with boxy styling, you're gonna see a lot of cross model cannibalization and in-fighting.    The two most successful sorts of lifestyle crossovers are boxy rugged off-roading stuff like jeeps and broncos, but there's also a sizable audience who are buying sexy curvaceous road going sport SUVs like Porsche, the Mach-e, and Alfa Romeos crossovers.    I see no reason why Ford can't do both. I think they should, both are lucrative markets. 

While the styling was a miss on Escape the biggest problem was lack of hybrids.

Grow it to be an Edge replacement with Explorer like styling and give Bronco Sport a long wheelbase version.

Yeah, most likely.  Could that be delayed based on new administration relaxing regulations, or is it too late for change?  Demand for basic ICE appears to still exist, and Toyota doesn’t seem above giving buyers what they want.

I think it's already been confirmed it'll go hybrid only.

Just look at the current crop of SUVs/Crossovers being introduced.  The feminine, soft roader kinda looking is getting old, the Santa Fe went from feminine mobile mobile, to hard edged more masculine styling ( I think it's hideous personally), and then you have Toyota with it's latest offerings being styled more of what it should be, an SUV.

Could price or perceived value be the biggest difference?  For example, in comparisons the Honda CR-V often beats the RAV4, yet Toyota sales are higher.  Don’t know why exactly considering CR-V is roomier and rated higher, except Toyota offers more variants, including lower-cost trim levels with basic 2.5L with 8-speed auto.  Car and Driver recommends the hybrid for either, but mention in article that ICE variants still sell best.  Those happen to be most affordable.   With Toyota going to hybrids as standard on other models, it will be interesting to see if they drop the lower-cost RAV4 ICE choice for next generation.   https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/comparison-test/a60269419/2024-toyota-rav4-2023-honda-cr-v/

Eh, I'd go a different way, and make it more of a mini Explorer/ Range-Rover esque look.  Customers seem to like the more boxy look, so let it be a "streamlined" box.     Allow it to grow too, with Edge not slotted between it and Explorer, you can give BS more room to grow, and make Escape more competitive.

It seems like the best course of action is to redesign escape with the intent of turning it into an "icon" of its own. The BS has the boxy off-roader thing covered, trying to turn the escape into that as well would mean too much overlap. But you can go the other way, take inspiration from like the mach-e. It's clear the mach-e appeals to a lot of people, even with the significant kickback EVs are receiving Ford is selling like 40-50k of them a year.    Imagine styling like that with a far more affordable price, and better tech/performance. It would make the escape far more appealing while also preventing it from stepping on the toes of the BS as both cars would be very different things. Cast as wide of a net with as few models as possible .