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2021 Ford Escape Enters Production on January 4th, Escape PHEV on April 5th

Twinned with the MKC-replacing Lincoln Corsair, the Ford Escape was redesigned from the ground up for 2020. Now that we’ve left that God-forsaken year behind, we can look forward to the 2021 model entering production on January 4th.
2021 Ford Escape PHEV 20 photos
Photo: Ford
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The compact crossover with standard front- and available all-wheel drive comes courtesy of the Louisville Assembly Plant, one of the oldest manufacturing facilities owned by the Blue Oval. Opened in 1955, the Kentucky-based facility is also where the Lincoln Corsair is produced because the two SUVs share the highly modular Ford C2 vehicle platform.

According to our friends at Ford Authority, the Escape PHEV and Corsair Grand Touring have been delayed to April 5th even though they were revealed in 2019. The biggest reason for pushing back the production date is a stop-sale order and a recall of the Kuga PHEV for the Old Continent.

Back in August, the Blue Oval reported four vehicle fires caused by overheating batteries. All told, 27,000 units of the crossover were called back to replace the potentially damaged Battery Control Charge Module.

Just like the European sibling, the Escape PHEV combines a 2.5-liter gasoline engine with a plug-in hybrid system for a grand total of 221 horsepower and 155 pound-feet (210 Nm) of torque. Regardless of trim level, the fuel-sipping drivetrain is exclusively offered with front-wheel drive, whereas the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV and Toyota RAV4 Prime are all-wheel drive.

A 14.4-kWh battery juices up the electric motor with up to 37 miles (60 kilometers) of zero-emissions driving range, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. 100 MPGe on the combined driving cycle isn’t exactly shabby either because it’s 11 miles (17.7 km) more than the Fusion Energi.

Including the destination charge, the Escape PHEV for the 2020 model year was announced at $33,040 for the entry-level SE trim level. The pricing is probably going to change for 2021, but don’t expect to pay an arm and a leg more than before. The SEL will set you back $35,620, and the Titanium hikes up the MSRP to $38,835, excluding destination and handling charges.

The Corsair currently features a base price of $35,945, but the Grand Touring with plug-in hybrid assistance is on the expensive side of compact SUVs at $50,230. Similar to the Ford Escape PHEV, all-wheel drive isn’t available.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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