Photo: S. Baldauf/SB-Medien
The lifespan of most vehicles has dropped significantly these past few years to rather ridiculous levels. As a result, certain automakers are trying to keep up, and Ford is just one of them.
It literally feels like they launched the new-gen Escape, known as the Kuga in Europe, just a few months ago, but it’s been two years since it entered production. Thus, they have started working on its successor, and what we have here are the first known spy shots of the mid-cycle refresh.
For a facelift, the visual changes are rather significant, as the prototype sports new headlights with fresh DRL signature, apparently inspired by BMW’s vehicles, or the Mustang Mach-E to some extent. The grille is also new, and it now sits closer to the hood than before. The brand’s corporate logo was moved to the center of it, and we can also see that it has a redesigned bumper, with a wider central lower air intake.
Out back, the vertical reflectors still flank the tailgate, which was otherwise tweaked, as the license plate holder was moved further down. The bumper seems to be brand new as well, together with the diffuser, which is more discreet here. Two cutouts make room for the extremely long double tailpipes, but don’t worry, because it won’t actually feature these when it launches. The taillights look just about the same, but they do sport new graphics.
Our spies couldn’t get close enough to the Kuga/Escape prototype to snap a few clear pictures of the interior, but from what we can see, it appears that the infotainment system no longer sits on the dashboard. Still, this is an early tester, so a lot of things can happen before it launches, but we wouldn’t mind seeing it with the center screen incorporated into the dashboard panel.
It is definitely way too early to speak about the engine family, though it should retain most (if not all) units, some of which might be upgraded to become more frugal. As you can imagine, no one outside the Dearborn company knows when the facelifted Kuga / Escape will premiere, but we reckon it should be after mid-2022, which would make it a 2023 model year in the United States.
For a facelift, the visual changes are rather significant, as the prototype sports new headlights with fresh DRL signature, apparently inspired by BMW’s vehicles, or the Mustang Mach-E to some extent. The grille is also new, and it now sits closer to the hood than before. The brand’s corporate logo was moved to the center of it, and we can also see that it has a redesigned bumper, with a wider central lower air intake.
Out back, the vertical reflectors still flank the tailgate, which was otherwise tweaked, as the license plate holder was moved further down. The bumper seems to be brand new as well, together with the diffuser, which is more discreet here. Two cutouts make room for the extremely long double tailpipes, but don’t worry, because it won’t actually feature these when it launches. The taillights look just about the same, but they do sport new graphics.
Our spies couldn’t get close enough to the Kuga/Escape prototype to snap a few clear pictures of the interior, but from what we can see, it appears that the infotainment system no longer sits on the dashboard. Still, this is an early tester, so a lot of things can happen before it launches, but we wouldn’t mind seeing it with the center screen incorporated into the dashboard panel.
It is definitely way too early to speak about the engine family, though it should retain most (if not all) units, some of which might be upgraded to become more frugal. As you can imagine, no one outside the Dearborn company knows when the facelifted Kuga / Escape will premiere, but we reckon it should be after mid-2022, which would make it a 2023 model year in the United States.
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