2013 Ford Escape To Drop Hybrid, C-Max To Spearhead Hybrid Market
The Ford Kuga based 2013 Ford Escape will be available next year, promising to be a significant improvement to the outgoing model. However, Ford has announced that it will drop the Escape hybrid powertrain.
Outgoing Ford Escape Hybrid sales through Novembers have fallen to only 9,009 units, a 13 percent drop from November of last year. But more than the Escape Hybrid’s lack of sales success, Derrick Kuzak, Ford’s group vice president of global product development, explains that the 2013 Ford EcoBoost four-cylinder engines will deliver fuel economy numbers that, “approaches the existing hybrid.” Kuzak also believes that a higher mpg rating will not be necessary to draw buyers.
More so, Ford will be saving its hybrid offerings for a brand-new-for-U.S. model, the Ford C-Max, which Ford developed in order to compete with the hybrid leader, Toyota Prius. The Ford C-Max is a multiactivity vehicle and will provide the same functionality and practicality of the Escape while delivering better fuel efficiency. The C-Max will be on sale by the second half of 2012.
GALLERY: 2013 Ford Escape
GALLERY: 2013 Ford C-Max
[Source: AutoNews]
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I bought new a 2008 AWD Mariner hybrid & love it. I average 30-31 mpg city & 29-30 mpg hwy. Most of my driving is city. I'm in the market for a new compact SUV hybrid but there are none to be found any more since Ford dropped the Escape hybrid for 2013. Ford please return the Escape hybrid!
So if they added a hybrid option on the EcoBoost four-cylinder engines wouldn't the fuel economy still be higher?? Hate to see this technology stalling. Subaru is coming out with a new hybrid fall '13...