Ford's Escape Site Teases a 2029 EV Comeback

Dead nameplates don't usually leave the door cracked open. The Ford Escape, whose production wrapped at the Louisville Assembly plant last December, has done exactly that.

When Ford discontinues a model, it typically converts the official landing page into a farewell. The Edge, for instance, gets the blunt treatment: its site declares "the end of the road." The Escape got softer language.

"Ford Escape is tapping the brakes," reads the banner on the official Escape page. Below it: "The Ford Escape SUV may be taking a breather for now, but the rest of our dynamic vehicle lineup is always going strong. Discover the perfect fit for the next phase of your Ford journey."

That is not the vocabulary of a dead model. "Taking a breather" and "for now" are doing a lot of work for a crossover that is no longer in production.

Whatever the copywriters are hinting at, the current Escape is effectively sold out. New dealer gross stock sat at roughly 500 units at the end of September, and the very last Escape built found a buyer a few weeks before that. The small, affordable crossover slot in Ford's lineup is empty.

The teasing isn't idle. The Escape is returning as a compact all-electric crossover built on the new Universal Electric Vehicle (UEV) platform. The reborn Escape carries the internal designation U833, is sized similarly to the outgoing model, and is set to begin production at the Louisville plant in 2029.

That makes it the second UEV-platform vehicle, coming after the Ford Fathom, which is due to begin building at the same plant sometime in 2027.

So the website coyness lines up with the plan. Ford knows the Escape name is coming back, it just won't be back for a while, and it won't run on gasoline. For buyers who wanted a cheap gas crossover in the meantime, that 2029 date is a long breather indeed.

[Images: Ford Motor Co.]

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