For years it seems we been told the future is hybrids. The future is electric cars. But what if the future of new cars for sale is something much simpler? The future that may soon be coming to a northern Michigan Ford dealer near you might just be a smaller, lighter, more efficient version of the internal combustion engine.
Known as the ecoboost engine, Ford is already rolling it out in their Ford truck segment and seeing huge success. And while Ford isn't the only one banking on more fuel efficient new cars for sale, they are leading the way in what has long been one of the most attractive segments on car search engines. The truck and SUV market.
Ford has known for a while the success that a fuel efficient SUV can bring due in large part to the success of the Ford Escape Hybrid line. But hybrid systems are expensive, and complicated. The 2012 Ford Escape dealer invoice on a hybrid Escape is almost a $10,000 difference between base model and hybrid model. While the pricing difference between a Ford F-150 with and without the Ecoboost engine is just $2,200.
By dropping the Ford Escape Hybrid from car search engines in 2013, Ford is hoping to combine the fuel efficiency of the more expensive hybrid with the pricing closer to the 2012 Ford Escape dealer invoice price point. The result will be a SUV northern Michigan Ford dealers can sell at a price closer to that of a Prius than that of other new hybrids many of which aren't even under 30k.
The prospect of an efficient and affordable SUV has many people excited, so excited that Ford has dropped incentives on the outgoing baseline Escape models to under 20k to clear the old models out. There aren't many new cars under 20k with the size the Escape carries which make it a bit of a bargain. But if you do a lot of driving and fuel economy and size are a requirement, then you have to wait until 2013. Just a little longer until the future of SUVs is here.