Rumors of the impending discontinuation of the Ford Escape have been lingering for years now, and from multiple sources. Those rumblings continue to swirl to this day, and as Ford Authority reported just this week, the Escape is still allegedly on track to be discontinued following the 2025 calendar year, though it’s unclear what might become of that nameplate – as well as what will be built at the Louisville Assembly plant if it and the Lincoln Corsair are indeed canceled. Now, Ford CEO Jim Farley has hinted that the plant might be retooled for EV production, however.
“We have a really exciting platform that our team in California has developed. We’re now doing all the industrialization,” Farley told Yahoo Finance in a recent interview. “We quoted 50 percent of the parts… We’re retooling the factory soon. And, that whole new lineup of commercial and small, affordable EVs will be coming out from Ford in a couple of years.”
Farley is referring to the skunkworks team within Ford that’s been developing a low-cost EV platform over the past couple of years, which is currently slated to underpin a mid-size pickup first, followed by other models including – potentially – a crossover and ride-share vehicle. Back in November 2023, a future product roadmap indicated that production of the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair would be replaced by an EV at Louisville as well.
Farley previously indirectly hinted that the Escape was facing discontinuation, so none of this comes as a major surprise, even though the model’s future remains a bit murky at the moment. The same goes for the Corsair, which could be discontinued or built somewhere else and imported into the U.S. One thing is for certain, and that’s the fact that Farley intends for the automaker to get out of the “boring car” business, as he’s stated on numerous occasions as of late, which could ultimately spell doom for the Escape and Corsair.
Largely because most small truck owners don't engage in that activity.
It says that 'everything will change' on that day.
A handful of potential future model names.
Exclusive to - you guessed it - the Lariat trim.
Perhaps a bit more affordable than the real thing.
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PLEASE can this guy. He's beyond clueless.
So true!
EVs are the "boring car business". Ford has had soooo much success with the MachE and LIghtning too!!
Farley needs to race off into the sunset!
Ford should introduce a Lincoln Sedan. I am driving a 2019 Lincoln Continental. Have driven Ford products all my life. Would like a Lincoln Sedan available to replace my current vehicle. Don't think I am alone in that request. Why Not?
This guy must be trying to ruin Ford
He keeps dropping products that people are buying
The escape is the third best selling vehicle at Ford, which includes the F150, which is the all-time best selling vehicle not sure what’s wrong with this guy
I agree Joe. Farley…. Haven’t you noticed the RAV4 outsold the F150?!?!?! Not only is the RAV4 boring, but it is ugly, too. Ah, but quality sells. And Ford has not built quality during Furniture Boy’s and Farley’s tenures.
This sounds like a repeat of Oakville Assembly and the 3-row EV, wondering where all the EV demand went. With Mach-E production taking only a fraction of capacity at Cuautitlan, Lightning production way under capacity in Dearborn, and Blue Oval City coming up, why in the world would they need another EV assembly plant?
This would be a bad decision three years ago. Today it's a firing offense. It would be charitable to assume the leaders of a multinational manufacturer know better than the average commenter, but I haven't seen evidence of that.
This EV (if it's ever produced) will retail for at least $10,000 more than the Ford Escape. This is being done despite the weak demand for EVs, this is just another as of many mistakes made by Failure Farley. The only way Failure Farley will get fired is for mutual fund managers to unload Ford shares and send Ford stock price down to less than $5/share.
Jim Farley is unaware the American people dont want evs..
We are not china we dont want them. Why kill the escape which year over year is increasing in sales?
I agree Farley has to go before he ruins this company it a mainstream company not Porsche. They need to have a full line cars and trucks just like Toyota to survive, no one thinks of Ford as a Porsche. Your customers on the whole cannot afford a Porsche get that thru your head Farley. If they could afford a Porsche they would not be buying a Ford in its place most of the time.
I would keep the Ford Escape. I was in an accident that I could’ve died and the Ford escape protected me and stayed together so if you want to see pictures of the Ford Escape let me know.
Saw a white Lincoln Continental today. What a wonderful looking car. Boring? No. Saw an Escape, Boring? Yes. Other companies can design a sharp looking small SUV. Where is Ford? They want it to fail.
Enjoy the tariffs. End of Lincoln?
How’s the push to increase quality?