TOWN OF CHAMPION, New York (WWNY) – The Ford Escape. It’s one of Ford’s best-selling SUVs, with 130,000 sold last year. But the 2026 model won’t be allowed in New York State now that New York and 5 other states have adopted California Emissions Standards.
“It’s just emissions when it comes to catalytic converters, the gases that it emits. There’s a lot stricter constraints on the motor that Ford wasn’t willing to do on the Escape. New York State wants to become greener, and we’ve had limited things that we can do here. EV [electric vehicle] things and whatnot, we’re really pushing as well,” said Jenna Sheehan, Sales Manager at Caskinette Ford.
The changes also mean you can’t bring in a 2026 Escape and register it in New York, which could affect Fort Drum soldiers.
Sheehan says not having the popular car on their lot near Carthage will be a change for customers.
“That’s a big change for us. It’s a big culture shock for our neck of the woods. It’s been very reliable and it’s a consistent purchase for a lot of people, ages young through elder age. So it’s definitely going to be a change for Ford,” said Sheehan.
Owners of the older Escape models shouldn’t be impacted by this change. The vehicles can still be insured, registered, and sold just the same as any other vehicle. Just not the 2026. The Escape’s final model.
“They knew that they were going to be phasing it out, so at this point it didn’t pay to set up plans and retool things for something that was going to be obsolete. There’s a lot of models they’ve taken from us over the years that were core vehicles, so hopefully they can fine-tune what they’re bringing out and make it comparable to what we’re used to,” said Sheehan.
As Ford stops making the Escape next year, it intends to have another choice with the Ford Bronco Sport, which it says will be a similar compact SUV that Escape owners are familiar with.
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