Ford Prepares to Unveil New Escort-Tracer : Autos: The No. 2 auto maker hopes the 1997 version will compete well against GM and Honda.
Born in 1980 as a 1981 model, Ford’s Escort quickly became the best-selling small car in the United States.
The No. 2 auto maker is hoping a redesign of the Escort and its twin, the Mercury Tracer, will help keep it near the top of best-seller lists as it fights formidable competitors in the mid-1990s.
The wraps come off the 1997 Tracer today. The new Escort will be shown to the public at next week’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit; official Escort details won’t be released until then. But the two models still share most basic features and components, so a look at the Tracer’s changes reveal the Escort’s direction, as well.
Ford reportedly spent $750 million on what its engineers describe as a “major freshening” of the vehicles--a relatively small investment for a car that has accounted for more than a quarter of the Ford Division’s U.S. sales since 1981. The company invested $6 billion in the Contour and Mercury Mystique “world cars” it introduced last year.
About 5 million Escorts have been sold.
Although the basic underpinnings of the new models are carried over from the present version, which was new for 1991, nearly everything seems changed. All the body panels are new, with a slightly more contoured look that picks up styling cues from the Contour and the 1996 Taurus and Mercury Sable.
Body sides stamped from a single piece of steel provide a more solid road feel and better fit between panels, Ford engineers say. The old Escort-Tracer engine is supplanted by a refined four-cylinder power plant that produces 110 horsepower, up about 25%. Platinum-tipped spark plugs stretch the regular tune-up interval to 100,000 miles. Transmission, braking system, suspension and steering also are tweaked.
The new cars are 4 inches longer, have more head and leg room and feature a one-piece dashboard panel that combines heater and sound system controls. They will be available in the spring in four-door sedan and station wagon versions.
As the Escort is to the company’s Ford Division, Tracer is the entry-level vehicle for Lincoln-Mercury, aimed at young families and other buyers for whom a low price is important. Major competitors are Honda’s Civic models and General Motors’ Saturn.
Through November 1995, Ford sold 265,187 Escorts, but General Motors Corp. sold 266,119 Saturns, and Honda Motor Co. sold 266,122 Civics.
