Ford executives gave dealers a brief look into the Blue Oval’s future product development, including an early concept of a $25,000 SUV, at a recent dealer event in Las Vegas. A report from Automotive News says attendees were shown a video that featured early mockups of a boxy SUV that’s slated to become Ford’s most affordable vehicle toward the end of the decade.
Dealers reportedly compared the new SUV to the first-generation Escape.
This SUV is notably not set to ride on Ford’s Universal EV platform, which is what will form the basis for the upcoming $30,000Ford Fathomtruck. Instead, the SUV will come with both hybrid and nonhybrid powertrains. It’s expected to slot in below theMaverick, which currently holds down the bottom of Ford’s lineup at just under $30,000.
The report says the sketches shown in the video were still in the very early stages of design, and that they mainly served to offer a general idea of the vehicle’s size and proportions. A dealer told AN that the mockups seemed reminiscent of the first-generation Ford Escape, and that the vehicle looked “boxy and wide.” Most of its features, including the name, are unknown.
Though the Escape ended its tenure as a compact SUV similarly sized to theHonda CR-V, Mazda CX-50, andFord Bronco Sport, the first-generation Escape was reasonably smaller. If the new vehicle does end up sporting early Escape-like proportions, it would likely fall in line with subcompact SUVs like theChevrolet Trax, Mazda CX-30, andKia Seltos, which are all priced well under $30,000. Should the new Ford sit with the rest of the subcompacts, its $25,000 price tag would fall roughly in the middle of its segment.
Dealers told AN that the video at the event showed only very early sketches of the vehicle’s progress, which seems to signify there’s still a lot of work to be done before it’s ready to hit the road in prototype form. A production date wasn’t announced, but the AN report says an unnamed hybrid crossover is scheduled to begin assembly in 2029 at the Hermosillo Assembly Plant in Mexico.