After a quarter century on the road, the Ford Escape has rolled off the assembly line for the very last time. Ford officially stopped production of both the Escape and its upscale sibling, the Lincoln Corsair, at the Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky back in December 2025. The move clears the way for a massive factory overhaul and a bold bet on electric vehicles. If you’re an Escape fan, you might want to act fast because dealer inventory won’t last forever.
- Ford stops production of Escape SUVs and the Lincoln Corsair at its Louisville Assembly Plant, which will undergo a $2 billion retooling to build a new mid-size electric pickup on Ford’s Universal EV Platform starting in 2027.
- Ford sold 146,859 Escapes last year and Lincoln moved 27,513 Corsairs, making the discontinuation a bold gamble on the EV future.
- As of January 2026, roughly 25,900 Escape units remained on dealer lots or in transit, with enough inventory expected to last until about June of this year.
Why Ford Stopped Building the Escape
The Escape has been a reliable seller since it first hit showrooms as a 2001 model. The Corsair and its MKC predecessor have been around since 2014. So why kill a winner?
CEO Jim Farley announced plans to launch a new Universal EV family, which will be built at the Louisville Assembly Plant. Calling it a “Model T Moment,” Farley revealed the Kentucky plant will undergo a $2 billion renovation involving radical changes to the traditional assembly line process. The factory needs a clean slate to make room for this next generation of Ford vehicles.
The new production system replaces the traditional assembly line with a tree-like arrangement that will simplify how vehicles built on the new electric platform come together. The platform itself uses 20 percent fewer parts than a traditional vehicle, with large uni-castings making up big sections of the cars. The wiring harness for the new vehicles is lighter, allowing Ford to use 25 percent fewer fasteners during production.
The headline product from the retooled factory is a midsize electric pickup truck Ford says will arrive in 2027, sporting a $30,000 price tag, as much interior space as a Toyota RAV4, and acceleration similar to an EcoBoost Mustang.
Options Still on the Table for Escape and Corsair Buyers
If you’ve had your eye on a 2026 Escape, there’s still time. There appears to be plenty of Ford Escape inventory left to carry dealers through to the middle of 2026, at least. According to The Detroit News, enough examples of the small crossover remain in dealer stock to last into June based on current sales trends.
There is a catch, though. The 2026 Ford Escape is not certified for emissions requirements with the California Air Resources Board and isn’t available for purchase in states that have adopted California’s certification requirements. That includes California, Massachusetts, Oregon, New York, Washington, and Vermont.
Ford is contacting Escape and Edge customers with leases set to expire this year, presenting them with loyalty offers inviting them to visit showrooms and pick up a new Escape before they’re gone. Dealers are also using a targeted marketing and incentive plan to keep Edge and Escape customers in the Ford family, potentially by giving them attractive payments to move into a new Explorer Active, Bronco Sport, or Maverick.
A Bittersweet Goodbye on the Factory Floor
In mid-December, the last Ford Escape compact SUV, signed by many of the UAW workers who built it, rolled off the assembly line at the Louisville plant. It was a quiet end to one of the automaker’s best-selling and most affordable SUVs in the United States.
Around 2,000 workers at Louisville Assembly will be temporarily laid off for roughly 10 months as the facility undergoes its retooling, but the UAW Local 862 union is working to make that downtime manageable for its members. Workers will receive some pay during the layoff, and the UAW will help them find temporary work to supplement their income if needed.
Ford said it would employ about 2,200 workers at the retooled facility, a decline of about 600 from current levels. Those workers would be offered buyouts or transfers to other Ford factories.
Can Ford Keep Escape Buyers From Jumping Ship?
Without the Escape, the least-expensive Ford SUVs will be the Bronco Sport and the larger Bronco. For Lincoln, the entry point rises to the pricier midsize Nautilus.
One Ford dealer put it bluntly, noting they’ve yet to come across a customer cross-shopping an Escape and a Maverick. The buyer profiles between Escape owners and Bronco Sport or Maverick shoppers are quite different, which creates a real risk of losing loyal customers to Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, and others.
Analysts believe that whatever two-row model Ford builds on the new platform, it could add another option for former Escape buyers who are comfortable going all-electric. Ford could potentially sell as many as 80,000 compact electric models if it can keep pricing in the affordable range the Escape occupied.
It seems unlikely Lincoln would give up the entry-luxury segment. It’s a decent revenue source, and it provides a flow of typically younger buyers who can be captured and moved on to pricier products over time. One way or another, sources agree Lincoln will get a Corsair replacement, though there could be a gap in the lineup for a year or more.
For now, if you want a new Escape, the clock is ticking. Ford is planning to add a total of five affordable models to its lineup by 2030 or sooner, but the wait could be long for buyers who need something today.
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