Ford dealers hoping to keep ‘Escape’ badge when Kuga based replacement arrives

Posted: Dec 30, 2009
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Ford Kuga - Ford Escape

FoMoCo dealers are looking forward to a much-needed successor to the Ford Escape and if they can have their own way, the “Escape” badge would live on as the official name for the mid-size crossover.

The current Ford Escape is scheduled to be replaced by a version of the European based Kuga, which will see production at Ford’s Louisville, KY, assembly plant starting 2011. Ford has not commented on whether it will drop the Escape badge and adopt the Kuga name for the crossover.

“I believe the Escape is a great vehicle with a great reputation and that it would be a big mistake to kill the Escape name,” Owen Mossy, general manager of San Diego-based Mossy Ford, told WardsAuto.

Of course if Ford ditched the Escape badge, it would be tossing away a name with significant brand recognition in turn harming sales of one of the best sellers for the Dearborn automaker.

Your thoughts? Let us know in the comments section below.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: WardsAuto


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  • Anguirus

    Ford has been keen on having their cars start w/ an F & their SUVs w/ an E so I doubt that they will use Kuga.

  • tall1

    Agree all of the $'s spent advertising the Escape name over the products lifecyle will be lost if a new name is introduced. The domestic brands seem to change vehicle names too often in an effort to loose the perceived stigma the older model had and give the public something “fresh”. Such a waste. Vehicles like the Chevy Cruze could easily have kept the Cobalt name and it would have been equally effective with the added bonus of name recognition. Tempo, Contour, Cavalair, Lumina, Sprint, etc., etc.

  • chevyfan100

    Ford should keep Escape as the name for their small CUV because it's a quite popular model.

  • LJSearles

    Given what they learned from the Taurus experience, one would have hoped that they had realized the value of name recognition.

  • LJSearles

    Given what they learned from the Taurus experience, one would have hoped that they had realized the value of name recognition.

  • samuelmcelroy

    Ford has already learned their lesson from the Taurus logo mishap?