Ford Escape SUV to be axed in Australia after 22 years

Ford has axed the Escape in Australia, leaving the brand without a medium-sized SUV to challenge the likes of the Toyota RAV4, Mitsubishi Outlander, Hyundai Tucson and Nissan X-Trail.

Ford Australia has confirmed the Escape will be retired from the local range by the end of 2023, following a steady sales decline and a failure to make a serious dent on the booming SUV segment.

The Ford Escape nameplate has existed in Australia since 2001 – originally a rebadged Mazda Tribute before eventually switching to a European-sourced model – meaning the badge will bow out 22 years after it was introduced locally.

“What you won’t see [in Ford’s product line-up going forward] is the Escape … the Escape nameplate will be leaving Australia by the end of the year,” Ford Australia president and CEO Andrew Birkic told media at the recent preview of the brand’s first all-electric vehicle, the Ford E-Transit electric van.

“We don’t make … those brand decisions lightly. It goes through a very rigorous process with multiple factors that we go into making those decisions. But we believe now is the right time."

Mr Birkic confirmed both the Ford Escape ST-Line PHEV and regular petrol-powered variants will be dropped from local showroom line-ups.

Ford’s Escape announcement comes less than a month after the company announced plans to offer the Ford Mustang Mach-E, a similarly-sized electrified SUV, in Australia later this year.

“Whether it’s [Ford] or the competitors, there's certainly a lot more people playing in that [battery electric] space. So I would anticipate that that [medium SUV] segment will [embrace electric powertrains],” said Mr Birkic.

The Ford Escape’s demise isn’t a total shock, given the model has consistently struggled to make an impact locally.

At the end of 2022 the Ford Escape had secured just 1.2 per cent of the medium SUV market, selling a total of 2179 examples over the course of the year.

So far this year, Ford has reported as sold just 474 examples of the Escape, representing 1 per cent of the medium SUV market.

The Ford Escape name was introduced in Australia in 2001 where it shared a platform with the similarly-sized Mazda Tribute SUV.

The Mazda-based model clocked up 30,473 sales before it was superseded by the European-sourced Ford Kuga in 2012.

After a four years as the Ford Kuga, the Ford Escape name was reintroduced as part of Ford’s local line-up in 2016, where its name took-over from the Ford Kuga medium SUV.

Similarly, the Ford Kuga struggled to sell against alternatives such as the Mazda CX-5 and Honda CR-V.

To date, Ford Australia has reported as sold a total of 39,265 examples of the European-sourced Escape and Kuga.

When sales of the Ford Escape based on the Mazda Tribute are included, Ford has sold a total of 69,738 examples in Australia to date.