Since its debut back in the 2001 model year, the compact Escape has been a steady source of sales for Ford Motor Co. Yet, the automker plans to end production late this year, also pulling the plug on the similarly sized Corsair, the entry model for the upscale Lincoln brand.
The big surprise is that Ford appears to have no immediate replacement for either of those models, despite the fact that they together generated about 175,000 sales in 2024 and retain strong demand this year. So far Ford has indicated only that it will pre-build enough of the SUVs to carry it well into 2026 at current demand levels.
That doesn’t mean Ford is abandoning those two lucrative market segments. Instead, it appears ready to use multiple products to replace Escape and will likely go all-electric when it comes to the Lincoln Corsair, multiple sources told Headlight.News.
Making room for its “Model T Moment”
Rumors have swirled for months that Ford might kill off Escape and its near-twin Corsair models, suppliers indicating they had no orders beyond the 2026 model year, nor indication there were direct replacements in the works.
Ford finally confirmed the two SUVs would go away during an August 11 news conference. CEO Jim Farley announced plans to launch the new Universal EV family. They are to built at the Louisville Assembly Plant currently building Escape and Corsair. Calling it a “Model T Moment,” Farley revealed the Kentucky plant will undergo a $2 billion renovation that will involve radical changes to the traditional assembly line process.
“Production will stop for Escape and Corsair later this year when we start retooling the plant,” Mark Truby, Ford’s head of media relations told journalists. But he also noted that, “We’re going to have enough inventory to sell Escape and Corsair well into 2026.”
Escape plans
Considering the Ford Escape generated 147,000 sales in the U.S. last year alone – and are up 10.8% for the first seven months of 2025 – the decision to walk away from that long-lived SUV might seem questionable. But, right now, several sources agreed, there’s simply no place to move production anywhere else – especially if Ford wanted to avoid saddling the budget-minded Escape with Trump tariffs that would “price it out of reach for its typical buyer,” one company insider said on background.
But that doesn’t mean Ford doesn’t have plans in mind. “Stay tuned,” spokesman Said Deep told the Detroit Free Press.
At least initially, other sources indicate, Ford will have enough Escapes pre-built to handle customer demand, even as it begins nudging buyers over to alternative products already in the line-up, said Sam Fiorani, lead analyst with AutoForecast Solutions.
“They don’t need to directly replace Escape,” he said, adding that “They could move buyers on a tight budget to the Maverick,” the compact pickup, with its high-mileage hybrid engin, that serves as the entry model in the Ford line-up. Alternatively, said Fiorani, there is the “more modern” Bronco Sport SUV which also would be likely to “make Ford more money than Escape did.”
Universal EV
Then there’s the Universal EV family set to start up production at the Louisville plant starting in 2027. The plan is to replace the plant’s conventional assembly line with a system using three “sub-assemblies,” each focusing on a specific segment of the vehicle. Late in the production process they will be married together, almost like a sandwich.
Initially, Ford said, the plant will roll out a new, all-electric midsize pickup with a “target price” of $30,000. But documents shown to reporters, followed by comments from Farley and other executives, indicate Ford is then set to roll out new two and three-row SUVs using the same process.
“One of the follow-on vehicles on the Universal EV platform will be of similar size to Escape,” said Sam Abuelsamid, head of data analysis for Telemetry Research. He expects that, whatever this two-row model will be called, it will add another option for former Escape buyers comfortable with going all-electric. Abuelsamid believes Ford could sell as many as 80,000 of those compact electric models if it can keep such an EV in the affordable class that Escape fell into. And so, with the various options available, “They might be able to match, or even exceed the total volume” of Escapes Ford currently sells.
Uncertain future for Corsair
The future for a Corsair replacement is less clear, according to various sources with knowledge of Ford’s product plans. At one point, said Fiorani, it appeared the automaker would continue selling the current package, albeit importing the compact crossover from China where it also is being built today. It wouldn’t be a unique strategy, the Lincoln brand currently bringing in the Chinese-made Nautilus. But that idea appears to have been scuttled, first by Pres. Joe Biden who quadrupled tariffs on Chinese auto imports, and now by Pres. Donald Trump.
One possibility is to create a Lincoln version of the compact SUV that Ford will be building in Louisville, Fiorani said. Currently, that’s not in the books, the Universal EV operation initially focusing on affordable products that would be more suited for the Ford brand.
But it seems unlikely, observers agreed, that Lincoln would give up the entry-lux segment. It’s a decent revenue source and, as manufacturers recognize, it provides a flow of typically young, new buyers who they then can capture and move on to more expensive products as they age and grow earnings. One way or another, sources agreed, Lincoln will get a replacement for Corsair, though it could face a gap in the line-up for a year or more.
This story was originally reported by Autoblog on Aug 26, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Autoblog as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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