The Ford Escort was discontinued in both Europe and North America following the 2002 model year, but it’s still alive and well in China, where it has been on sale since 2015. There, the Escort is based on the Chinese-built Ford Focus and rides on the Ford C1 platform. Now, the 2021 Ford Escort has debuted in China with a host of styling tweaks and tech updates that help modernize the compact sedan for that market.
On the outside, the 2021 Ford Escort has received a host of updates to its front and rear end that mimic other newly refreshed Blue Oval products in the region, including the Territory and 2021 Ford Equator, as well as the leaked Ford Fusion/Mondeo Active spied recently. That means smaller headlights with slim LED daytime running lights, a large oval-shaped front grille, and sharply-shaped taillights with a chrome bar connecting them.
The interior of the 2021 Ford Escort is rather luxurious and upscale in appearance, much like the Equator. There’s a large, landscape-oriented digital gauge cluster and infotainment screen in the center stack, just like what’s present in the Equator, though it measures in at 10.25 inches versus 12.3 in the SUV. The interior also features a rich-looking two-tone color scheme, in this case black and tan.
The 2021 Escort is powered by Ford’s naturally-aspirated 1.5L gas engine that produces 122 horsepower, which it sends to the front wheels via a six-speed manual transmission or automatic gearbox. Wheel options include standard 15-inch or optional 16-inchers, while the Escort is slightly smaller than the current fourth-gen Focus on sale in other parts of the world.
In China, the Escort slots in below the Focus, the newly-refreshed Mondeo, and the flagship Taurus sedan in Ford’s lineup.
We’ll have more on Ford models on sale all over the globe soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford Escort news and ongoing Ford news coverage.
Comments
This is an attractive small car. Love the Mercedes look dash! Still surprised that FORD literally gave market share away to the competition by going out of the car business. Bean counters do not design cars, engineers do. As a twice owned MKZ driver, my next car will have to be an Acura TLX typeS because FORD/LINCOLN abandoned me. You never get a second chance to make a good first impression… a lesson FORD has stomped all over.
So, you’ve owned two but they still need to make a first impression. Weird.