US pricing revealed:
I’m not sure how I feel about a $30k car having a 3-cylinder engine (even if the power output is totally adequate)…
I still can’t get over how horribly bland/ovoid it looks.
I know that beauty is subjective but my god is that a boring redesign. It takes a step back rather than forward IMO. I don’t think this’ll do enough to stop the Ford rot. It’s essentially just the F150 company these days anyway right?
Mazda should sue them:
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Meh. Yet another bland cuv with a 3 cylinder now. Maybe next redesign, they can toss in a 2 stroke, and give you a can of oil for the next 3 fill-ups.
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Reminds me of my GMC terrain. Very boring. But it was a good hack so who cares.
You know, from that angle and if one’s glasses needed updating, you might mistake it for a Macan…
This is going to sell like hotcakes, regardless of how it looks. If it’s one thing that Lexus’s predator grill, BMW’s Bangled butts, pretty much anything from Nissan has taught us, it’s that the average US consumer doesn’t give a rat’s a$$ about exterior design issues, as long as it doesn’t impinge too much on interior space and usability.
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I disagree. People think (or thought when it came out) the Rogue was upscale and sporty because it looked good. Never mind it’s horrible CVT or underpowered engine.
The escape isn’t taking many sales from CRV, RAV4, Forester, CX-5 etc… the CRV is getting a little old pending mid cycle refresh but the new RAV 4, Forester and CX-5 are excellent cars. I just don’t think Ford would invest enough money to produce a Mazda/Toyota/Subaru beating car. Profit margins on these aren’t enough to make it worth while.
They will do tons of fleet sales and sell to people who want an American car. But for people shopping them against the Japanese competition Ford is cooked. Also remember they needed to make the Escape a SUV that could capture some sedan buyers now that Ford doesn’t have any non mustang sedans. Which may have led to a bit of a softer look.
No, I do agree that the Rogue and Murano are nice-looking cars… Although I honestly think that it’s the interior of the Rogue (and the compact size) that probably does more drive sales than the does the exterior.
I still think the absolutely atrocious design flourishes we see on other Nissan products (and from other brands) does support the idea that the average consumer has a really different idea about good design than does an enthusiast.
And i actually don’t mind the way the new Escape looks, TBH (although I’m apparently the only one).
Is it (I’m too lazy to look up sales figures)? To be fair, the Escape is SUPER old, and Ford did its usual thing of letting a good initial product wither on the vine. I think the few reviews of the new (European) Focus have been pretty positive, so I actually think this will be a very good driver.
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Good thing I’m here lurking then.
Full years sales of just the Escape
2017: 308,296
2018: 272,228
Source 2018 (Full Year) USA: Ford Sales - America's Favorite Car Brand - Car Sales Statistics
Forrester
2017: 177,563
2018: 171,613
CX-5
2017: 127,563
2018: 150,622
You can dig around yourself on that site for stats. The “desperately needs a refresh/isn’t stealing sales” Ford Escape outsold the Forrester by 100k and CX-5 by 120k. Not to say it’s a better car: without looking those numbers up I could have told you just by production capacity for each brand they weren’t close.
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My own impression was that the Escape was a huge seller, but thanks for confirming. 
Some more numbers:
The aged Escape is still the 12th best selling automobile (incl trucks) in the US and the 2nd highest Ford model (after, of course, the F-series). This is an absolutely vital product for Ford to get right, and I would very, VERY surprised if they just phoned it in (and I strongly suspect they did not).
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Yes but let’s not get crazy and assume they will. Alan Mullally turned Ford around. His hand groomed successor was fired by BOD because he tweeted that Tesla needed to worry about governance (spoiler alert as Musk is now last last exec remaining: he was right). His replacement as CEO came from the autonomous driving group, before that he was a basketball coach, before that he worked in office furniture for 3 decades and retired from that. The guy who made cubicles and Herman Miller chairs “as cool as they could possibly be” is running the only big-3 US car company that didn’t need bailout money in 2008 and sells over 100,000 F-150s a month. It can’t end well. I’m driving my last Ford now and sold all my Ford stock last year.
You’re 100% correct.
I’m on the inside looking out from an industry perspective, and Ford is a total cluster. In just a few years they’ve managed to make FCA appear to be a perfectly functioning well run company 
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I said let’s not get crazy, and you got yourself committed to the psychward and freed all the crazies inside. 
FCA makes some of the nicest, luxurious “check engine” lights I’ve ever seen driven (or more often towed-in) by people with 450 scores on their auto-enhanced Equifax. And a lot of junk. Their definition of “wide and deep” couldn’t be more different than mine.
I would never own an FCA product, but they’ve substantially improved quality control and I can tell you that their ‘give a shit’ is substantially higher than GM sand Ford currently and has been for quite awhile. Nonwithstanding the awful FCA dealers…
I have called the tech center in Auburn Hills ‘the psych ward’ for years so that’s funny.
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Ditto plus GM. Even though the US made money on their bailout, and it was the right call for economy (esp secondary suppliers), how it played out left a bad taste in my mouth. Chrysler esp because their owner Cerberus (PE) wasn’t in the red like GM, they proactively called it a burning bag and abandoned it on the Treasury’s doorstep. I have no judgement about/against anyone who owns GM/FCA products, but I won’t.
Delayed response - been out of town. Those sales figures are useful but they don’t break down fleet sales. Subaru doesn’t do fleet sales and I don’t think Mazda does either (is this correct?). Ford of course does a lot of fleet sales. My understanding of fleet sales is they are basically at cost/minimal profit just to keep lines moving. Selling 100k escapes to Avis/hertz/national is probably less profitable than selling 5k Foresters to consumers
Also, Ford has a much larger dealer network. In places like Texas millions of people live 1+ hour from a Subaru dealership but close to a Ford dealership.
Finally, some significant minority of Americans only buy American cars. They aren’t going to consider a foreign badged car (or spend 60 seconds to look at the door jam sticker/online reports - hint my MDX is a whole lot more American made than the Escape).
All of which is to say, I still don’t think the Escape is stealing many sales from CX-5/Forester. It has a niche and except maybe for when it is much much cheaper, I don’t see it taking sales from anyone that considers all three vehicles.
P.S. - do you also deal with Forrester research? You mixed up Forester (car) from Forrester (research company). I frequently make the same mistake.
Those look like total sales to me. And depends on what you mean by fleet sales: Subaru for a long time did not sell fleet vehicles to rental car companies, more than 10 years ago they started. It’s not exactly what Ford thinks of fleet (white everything with AT&T and Quest Diagnostic logos on the side of them).
P.S. - do you also deal with Forrester research? You mixed up Forester (car) from Forrester (research company). I frequently make the same mistake.
Ha (on misspelling) - I know who they are but no. When I crack research (IDG, Gartner, etc) it’s usually for a client, and it varies by their industry. I am also not a Forester owner, but I do own an amazing Indigo Girls cover of “Tangled Up in Blue” by Dylan. Just misspelled.
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