Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative, Green, Ford
Ford Escort may return as 100mpg hybrid
What would it take for Ford to get you interested in a new Escort? In its heyday, the Escort was quite popular, but managed to build up a bundle of negative brand equity. In less than three years, Ford reportedly hopes to woo Escort buyers back with a 100 mpg plug-in hybrid model. Numbers like that would certainly get some interest, and give competitors like GM's Volt and Toyota's Prius plenty to think about. And if the 2011 Escort looks anything like the renderings on Next Energy News, it should be able to make lots of money for Ford.
According to the report at Next Energy, the new Escort would be a single mode hybrid more like Toyota's drivetrain instead of the dual-mode system GM and Chrysler are developing. But the new car would be a brand new platform for Ford, and wouldn't be built using another company's proven hybrid system.
Ford's hybrid would likely utilize A123 Systems nanophosphate lithium-Ion batteries, which are also being used by the Saturn Aura and Chevy Volt.
[Source: Next Energy News via GM Inside News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Level 6:14PM (9/24/2007)
Is Ford that stupid??? I would not be caught dead in an Escort anything hybrid or not whats wrong with the Focus??? or coming up with another name for the hybrid!
I just Lost all confedence in Ford!
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compy386 6:26PM (9/24/2007)
You've gotta be an idiot to think this is real. First of all, that's the rendering of the new Focus before Ford debuted the real model. It's pretty ugly looking and Ford is not going to make it. There is NO WAY Ford is bring back the Escort.
Guenther 6:34PM (9/24/2007)
As well as Honda and Toyota can move cars below the Civic and Corolla, there's plenty of room for a sub-focus. If VW "vontz to rul ze woerld", they should look into selling Polos over here.
P 9:51PM (9/24/2007)
What's with always negative comments! I bet you all have a cell phone, cable TV, VCD, DVD, microwave oven and OBVIOUSLY the internet. Did you all carry on like this about those new technologies before you ended up owning them?
Thunder 6:19PM (9/24/2007)
Ford should add some fender flares, all wheel drive and a Cosworth engine and turn this into a rally car.
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kdschneider 6:22PM (9/24/2007)
Don't Forget Ford has it's own Proven Full Hybrid System in the the Escape. Second only to Toyota. Honda and GM only have Mild Hybrid Systems.
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Jason 6:26PM (9/24/2007)
Just make it look like the flippin' rendering!!
And pick a name... Escort, Festiva, Focus, whatever. Pick one and stick with it. Considering the negative thoughts evoked by the Escort and Festiva badges, and the positive thoughts associated with the Focus, I'm thinking they should stick with Focus.
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Atomicbri 6:26PM (9/24/2007)
I don't think Escort would be a positive way to sell a new car, it too has a patchy past. I think Ford needs to make Bold Moves and name it something new.
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Barney 6:29PM (9/24/2007)
This is coming from GM Inside News?
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Doug 6:31PM (9/24/2007)
That rendering has been all over the web - it was an artist's rendering of the new "kinetic design language" thought to be part of the new Focus.
As for the Escort - let's come up with a different name. Escort doesn't always have a great connotation.
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Shadyman 6:36PM (9/24/2007)
What would it take for Ford to get you interested in a new [hybrid] Escort?
For it to be not named an Escort. Barring that, for it to not be a Ford, but I think the Escort thing is more likely.
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mike 8:55PM (9/24/2007)
I love Escorts.
This one looks hot to.
100mpg is icing on the kake.
Shadyman 11:35PM (9/24/2007)
I'll agree this one looks hot, I just had to make the obligatory Ford jab, as well as the obligatory Escort jab, so I kinda rolled them into one.
FrankTheCrank 7:01PM (9/24/2007)
Dream on.
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Moltenauto 7:06PM (9/24/2007)
If they could actually achieve this, (huge doubts), it would be a viable contender for the Automotive X-Prize... I forget how many million the prize is supposed to be, but it would certainly help offset some of the developmental cost.
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whofan 7:33PM (9/24/2007)
Ford should just bring over the Fiesta and call it good.
Who wants an expensive compact car?
A hybrid system to me makes more sense to use in a large vehicle that is not efficent by default.
If I can pull close to 40 MPG from a common compact car. Why would I spend thousands more to make an already efficent car more efficent?
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Drewboy 7:44PM (9/24/2007)
Because oil prices are going to keep going up significantly over the next several years to the point of making even the tiniest increase in efficiency worth paying for.
John Metcalf 7:47PM (9/24/2007)
Even if Ford could achieve 75mpg in a vehicle that looked this good, I'd be interested. I don't care what they call it.
By the way, I thought "Escort" had a long proud heritage as Ford's global car? The American version has mixed memories, but internationally? I do know people who were able to get a lot of miles out of their ragged-out Escorts.
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Das Boese 7:54PM (9/24/2007)
Who thinks up BS stories like this?
The Escort was officially replaced by the Focus, it's gone. And it won't come back. Ever.
If they offer a compact hybrid, it will be either a Focus variant or something completely new.
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whofan 8:11PM (9/24/2007)
You can thank Bill Ford JR. His every name starts with an F thing he had going. I wonder how much Fords lost in name equity.
It back fired with the Taurus.