- Ford dealers warn Escape’s end could push buyers to rivals.
- Compact SUV was key to attracting first-time customers.
- Officials says Maverick and Bronco Sport will fill the gap.
It’s official. The Ford Escape is done in the USA. The final unit of the long-running compact SUV quietly rolled off the line at Louisville Assembly on December 17, closing the book on a 25-year run that began in 2000. While Ford is now placing its bets on the Bronco Sport and Maverick, many of its dealers are wary.
A new report reveals that many of Ford’s middlemen are concerned that the death of the Escape will push buyers straight to other manufacturers.
More: Ford Almost Named The Escape Something That Sounds Like A Typo
And they have reason to be uneasy. At its peak in 2017, the Escape pulled in over 308,000 sales. By 2023, that number had dropped to around 141,000, ticking up to nearly 147,000 in 2024. Through the first 11 months of 2025, Ford sold 132,471 Escapes.
That’s roughly on par with the Bronco Sport’s 132,216 units over the same period, though it’s likely Ford dealers were offering fewer discounts on the Bronco’s MSRP than on the more traditionally styled Escape.
Is Ford Leaving a Hole in Its Lineup?
Dealers across the nation are worried that they’re about to lose out now that the Escape is gone. Assembly of the Escape, along with the Lincoln Corsair, wrapped up at Ford’s Louisville Assembly Plant as the factory began a $2 billion retooling.
The site is being prepped to build a new midsize all-electric pickup based on Ford’s Universal EV Platform, with production targeted for 2027. Notably, the Corsair could live on as a China-built model.
Why Dealers Are Uneasy
That said, the gap in the segment is one that dealers don’t love. “It’s bread and butter,” Doug North, president of North Bros. in Detroit, told the news outlet.
“It’s a big seller for us and it’s certainly part of the affordable segment, which we need. It gets new buyers in, and it gives us the ability after a while to move them into an Explorer and keep them in the brand.”
North acknowledged Ford’s reasoning but said the automaker should have reconsidered. “It makes it hard to get people into our brand. I wish they would have rethought that,” he added.
The Risk of Abandoning Affordability
Other dealers echoed the concern, pointing out that the Escape played a crucial role in attracting first-time buyers, especially as vehicle prices continue to climb.
“The biggest thing we’ve been stressing at dealer council is affordability, and in my opinion, this takes it in the wrong direction,” said Nick Anderson, general manager of Chuck Anderson Ford in Excelsior Springs, Missouri. “Getting rid of the Escape is a huge mistake.”
Nathan Meckley, general manager of Downtown Ford of Sacramento, put it more bluntly: “If you lose that entry-level buyer, you lose a generation of buyers. They’re going to go somewhere else and then get stuck in that brand.”
Of course, Ford itself doesn’t feel this way. Not only does it have faith in the Bronco Sport and Maverick, but it has five new “affordable” models in development that’ll evidently launch by 2030. Between now and then, it’ll be up to dealers to sell what Ford is making.
