Ford will drop the EcoSport in the U.S. next year, a direct result of Ford pulling out of the India market and ending EcoSport assembly there, where U.S.-spec EcoSports are built. An EcoSport plant in Romania will remain, but will apparently only supply some other markets, not the U.S.

It will probably not be missed here in the U.S., as, IMO, there are better products in this size and price-range, particularly from Hyundai and Kia. I reviewed an EcoSport a few years ago, and was not impressed at all with its comfort, 1.0L powertrain, or road-manners, as, IMO, it seemed to be a base-transportation machine developed for Third-World countries, not American driving conditions. The swing-open door for the hatch, in the rear, is also awkward to use. Apparantly, my opinion is not alone, even in the D.C. area, where almost any vehicle sells......I have not seen very many on local roads.

https://www.autoblog.com/2021/09/11/...united-states/

Ford EcoSport quits the U.S. market in 2022

Automaker's departure from India kills the subcompact CUV here

JONATHON RAMSEY
Sep 11th 2021 at 3:19PM

• 23comments

Ford recently announced its exit from the retail automotive market in India after 25 years on dealer lots there. One casualty of the move is Ford's pocketbook, the automaker already having lost $2 billion over the past 10 years and taking another $2 billion in charges tied to the move over the next several years. Roughly 4,000 employees will also need to deal with the blow. But there's one more subcompact casualty from the fallout, Ford confirming to the Detroit Free Press that the EcoSport won't be sold in the U.S. after production ends in India.

In a separate statement to Automotive News, a company spokesperson said, "With Ford India’s restructuring announcement, the Ford EcoSport will now be sold in North America only through the second half of 2022," after which it would "continue to serve EcoSport customers with parts, service and warranty support."

It's not the end of the EcoSport, only the end of the EcoSport here. The Europeans get the Fiesta-based crossover, but theirs is made in Romania, and it will continue being produced there. Our version, on sale since the last few weeks of 2017, came from an assembly plant in Chennai, India that will be shuttered by the end of June 2022. Sales weren't terrible through the end of last year, the model dipping just 6.4% compared to 2019, moving 60,544 units in 2020. This year, however, the numbers have declined 22%. The Chevrolet Trax and Kia Soul have taken a hit, too, while the Honda HR-V and Hyundai Kona have barely felt any pain, but all of them already handily outsold the EcoSport.

It might have helped if Ford had cared about it. Our First Drive of the EcoSport in 2018 ended with, "it's an aging model designed for other markets," and, "it might make more sense to wait for Ford to revamp the model." Now the wait is over.

 

Good riddance. As you note, it will not be missed.

The EcoSport to me seemed like a throwback to the bad old days when the domestic manufacturers could throw together whatever crap they wanted to in the subcompact space and it would sell just because it's cheap. But just like then, competitors have shown that it's possible to put together a pretty compelling vehicle in this class and still keep the price attainable, and customers have found them.

 

A coworker got stuck with one as a rental on our last trip. It was a miserable car to have to drive.

 

I had the pleasure of renting one from Hertz to drive from SF to LA. It was terribly, slow, and inefficient. Good luck finding the trunk release handle to anyone who drives one.

 

Probably not so much a throwback to the bad old days as much as it is simply a vehicle that was simply not designed for (or intended for) typical American driving conditions. It's a mini-crossover that seems most at home exactly where it's currently built......in India, and in large Third World cities where millions of small vehicles share the streets with more millions of bicycles, motor-scooters, and animal-drawn carts. After Ford pulls out of India, they will miss it there a lot more than we do,

 

Good, that was a miserable car. I had the displeasure of being in the passenger seat of one of those for an hour and couldn't stand it.

Apparently not, as sales lagged competitors.

 

Yes, the first time I sampled one, I could tell it was simply not designed for large Americans or our driving conditions.



I'll admit that some competitors, particularly Hyundai and Kia, have similar products that are better in several ways.

 

Good riddance.

I think Ford runs the risk of having too many crossovers. You had this, the Escape, the Bronco Sport, the Edge, the Flex, and the Explorer all filling that space. Now the Flex and EcoSport are gone. I wonder if the Escape will take a hit due to the Bronco Sport's popularity.

 

will not be missed... pile of hot garbage.

 

How was the EcoSport and Explorer all filling the same space? You could load an EcoSport through the Explorer's hatch-lid LOL.


Yep. You can take that one to the bank. There are people right in my own neighborhood (not to mention coast-to-coast) who are waiting for the current lopsided auto-market to stabilize so they can trade in their old Escapes on a new Bronco Sport.

 

I was never a fan of the EcoSport. It looked like a cheap, knock-off Escape driving down the street.

 

I remember this vehicle in Mexico and it was quite popular similar to the Nissan XTrail that never came to the United States as it fit a price segment that people could afford.

 

Mexico was probably one of the Third-World markets the EcoSport was developed for.