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.

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

The latest supplier index came out, and Ford's score continue to decline, while Toyota, Honda and GM scores rose.  This is absolutely unacceptable.  No wonder they have such pitiful quality scores.     Here's a link to today's Autoline Daily.  Go to the 5:59 mark:   https://www.autoline.tv/daily/ad-4058-tesla-cybertruck-trade-in-values-plummet-suppliers-love-gm-hate-ford-aito-shoves-bmw-mercedes-audi-aside/  

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. 

Ford invested in the wrong EV. It's a statement of fact.   The market was not demanding 7,000 lbs F-150 EVs but that's where Ford put its eggs in the basket. Meanwhile, there is no replacement for Escape in the US (I mean compact CUV is only the biggest segment in the market so why would Ford want to compete there right?) and Ford Europe laid goose eggs on its collab with VW.    The industry is still moving towards EV. The mandates will probably be modified in some way but they are not going away. Germany, California, China are not going back from >20% EV marketshare to single digit. This train is only going in one direction, the only variable is how fast the train is moving.   The CE1 approach was and still is the right move. They just need to bring those to market quickly before the market leaves Ford behind.   

I think I agree with the assessment of it being a move to boost inventory ahead of plant shutdown and product cancellation.     I didn't realize there was no power liftgate on any BS model.     I still disagree with that idea too - the three coexisted for a while, and Edge sales were still healthy.

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. 

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. 

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.  

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.