Amid plenty of speculation that it would happen, Ford’s Escape mid-size SUV is about to leave the building.
No timeline has been offered for the car’s axeing from Ford dealerships, other than “by the end of the year”.
Speaking at the launch of Ford’s first Australian BEV vehicle, the E-Transit, Ford Australia President and CEO Andrew Birkic confirmed that one of the better SUVs offered in this country would disappear.
“The Escape nameplate will be leaving Australia by the end of the year,” he told CarsGuide.
“We don’t make those brand decisions lightly. The decision is part of a rigorous process with multiple factors that go into making that decision.”
“We’ll be talking to dealers and customers. We have a lot of customers with Escapes.”
Perhaps, though, not enough customers. The Escape has been a sales-race plodder since its introduction in its current form back in 2017 when it replaced the also-slow-selling Kuga.
At the time, a Kuga hangover was suspected, but even after plenty of familiarisation, Escape sales never really hit their straps and, in 2022, Ford managed to unload just 2179 of them, compared with 18,792 Kia Sportages, 27,062 Mazda CX-5s and a whopping 34,845 Toyota RAV4s.
Back in February, this website reported that Ford’s US CEO, Jim Farley, had strongly hinted that the Escape and other models like it would be heading for the chopping block.
Farley confirmed at the time that the brand would be quitting ICE-powered crossovers and two-row SUVs as part of its electrification program, as well as concentrating its internal-combustion efforts on more profitable large SUVs and pick-ups.
Farley admitted that Ford would “not be playing in the two-row commodity crossover market, because Ford tried that in the ICE business and it didn’t really work out for us”.
At that point, the Escape’s fate was sealed, although the recent announcement by Birkic also signs the death warrant on an electric version of the Escape.
Perhaps the forthcoming Puma EV or Mustang Mach-E will fill the gap, if indeed the departing Escape leaves a noticeable gap.
Keyword: The great Escape? Ford Australia axes Toyota RAV4 and Mazda CX-5 rival, exiting largest local vehicle segment