It was also stated that 60% of the two million Escorts had been built in Britain. In June 1974, six years into the car's UK introduction, Ford announced the completion of the two millionth Ford Escort, a milestone hitherto unmatched by any Ford model outside the US. It competed with the Vauxhall Viva, and from early 1970 the Rootes Group's Hillman Avenger. The Escort was a commercial success in several parts of Western Europe, but nowhere more so than in the UK, where the national bestseller of the 1960s, BMC's Austin/Morris 1100 was beginning to show its age, while Ford's own Cortina had grown, both in dimensions and in price, beyond the market niche at which it had originally been pitched. At the beginning of 1970, continental European production transferred to a new plant on the edge of Saarlouis, West Germany. The front suspension and steering gear were configured differently and the brakes were fitted with dual hydraulic circuits also the wheels fitted on the Genk-built Escorts had wider rims. Initially the continental Escorts differed slightly under the skin from the UK built ones. Escort production commenced at the Halewood plant in England during the closing months of 1967, and for left hand drive markets during September 1968 at the Ford plant in Genk. The Escort was also presented in Europe as the first passenger car to be developed by the merged Ford of Europe (the Transit van having been the first product of this collaboration). It replaced the successful, long-running Anglia. The Mark I Ford Escort was introduced in Ireland and the United Kingdom at the end of 1967, making its show debut at the Brussels Motor Show in January 1968. In 2014, Ford revived the Escort name for a car based on the second-generation Ford Focus sold on the Chinese market.ġ972 Ford Escort 1100 L Mark I 2 door saloonĪzambuja, Portugal (Ford Lusitana S.A.R.L.) A total of more than 4.1 million Escorts of all generations were sold there over a period of 33 years. The Escort was frequently the best selling car in Britain during the 1980s and 1990s. Its successor - the Ford Focus - was released in 1998, but the final generation of Escort was gradually phased out, with the panel van version ending production in 2002 in favour of the Ford Transit Connect. In total there were six generations, spread across three basic platforms beginning with the original rear-wheel drive Mk.1/Mk.2 (1968–1980), the "Erika" front wheel drive Mk.3/Mk.4 (1980–1992), and the final CE-14 Mk.5/Mk.6 (1990–2002) version. The Ford Escort is a small family car that was manufactured by Ford of Europe from 1968 until 2000.
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