LA 2015: Ford Escape shifts focus from crossover towards SUV
New mid-size joins bigger Explorer at the more rugged end of the crossover scale
At last year’s LA show, Ford showed its revised Explorer that swapped its soft forms for a more geometric front design that, while maybe not as elegant as the original, certainly added a few degrees of ruggedness and more traditional SUV graphics.
This year it’s the Escape’s turn and the results are similar. It’s now more obviously distanced from the Focus, particularly in its grille graphic that ties it in with the Edge and EcoSport. This, combined with bringing the leading edge of the hood further forward, creates a more upright DRG with more presence than before.
It’s interesting to see Ford shift towards the more traditional SUV end of the crossover scale even if, in terms of the Escape specifically, it’s different rather than necessarily better.