The Chevy Trax and Buick Encore subcompact crossovers are set to lose a direct rival in the coming months, with the Ford EcoSport set to leave the U.S. market in mid-2022.
Ford confirmed this week that it would no longer offer the EcoSport in North America after it announced it would cease manufacturing vehicles at both of its plants in India., according to our sister site, Ford Authority. The Ford Sanand Assembly Plant builds the Ford Figo and will wind down by Q4 of 2021, while production at the Ford Chennai Assembly Plant, which builds the Ford EcoSport, Ford Endeavor and Ford Freestyle, will conclude at the end of Q2 next year.
While the U.S.-market Ford EcoSport will no longer be produced in light of the Chennai plant’s closure, Ford says that it will continue to produce the crossover at the Ford Craiova Assembly Plant in Romania for the European market.
In the U.S., the 2021 Ford EcoSport is offered with two engine options. The base engine is a 1.0L EcoBoost three-cylinder, which produces 123 horsepower and 125 pound-feet of torque. A naturally aspirated 2.0L engine is also available, which is rated at 166 horsepower and 149 pound-feet of torque. The 1.0L engine is paired with a six-speed automatic is only offered with front-wheel drive, while the 2.0L engine is offered with a six-speed automatic and all-wheel drive only.
With the departure of the Ford EcoSport, the Chevy Trax and Buick Encore have one less rival to compete with in the hotly contested subcompact crossover space. Chevrolet Trax sales decreased 30.88 percent to 35,047 units through the first half of 2021, while Buick Encore sales decreased 37.15 percent to 15,255 units. Meanwhile, Ford EcoSport sales decreased 12.77 percent to 26,304 units in H1 2021.
Sales Numbers - Mainstream Subcompact Crossovers - H1 2021 - United States
| MODEL | Q2 21 SHARE | Q2 20 SHARE | YTD 21 / YTD 20 | YTD 21 | YTD 20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HONDA HR-V | 14% | 9% | +85.50% | 68,441 | 36,895 |
| HYUNDAI KONA | 9% | 8% | +65.75% | 50,996 | 30,767 |
| CHEVROLET TRAILBLAZER | 8% | 3% | +621.68% | 48,367 | 6,702 |
| BUICK ENCORE GX | 9% | 5% | +276.82% | 44,679 | 11,857 |
| NISSAN KICKS | 6% | 5% | +89.80% | 43,962 | 23,162 |
| KIA SOUL | 7% | 9% | +13.92% | 38,780 | 34,041 |
| CHEVROLET TRAX | 6% | 11% | -30.88% | 35,047 | 50,708 |
| JEEP COMPASS | 5% | 9% | -29.17% | 34,154 | 48,221 |
| MAZDA CX-30 | 6% | 4% | +99.95% | 33,904 | 16,956 |
| KIA SELTOS | 5% | 5% | +128.62% | 32,185 | 14,078 |
| JEEP RENEGADE | 5% | 6% | +16.51% | 31,294 | 26,859 |
| FORD ECOSPORT | 4% | 9% | -12.77% | 26,304 | 30,155 |
| TOYOTA C-HR | 5% | 6% | +14.09% | 24,443 | 21,424 |
| MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER SPORT | 3% | 2% | +42.88% | 23,983 | 16,785 |
| BUICK ENCORE | 3% | 5% | -37.15% | 15,255 | 24,271 |
| HYUNDAI VENUE | 3% | 2% | +109.87% | 15,050 | 7,171 |
| KIA NIRO | 2% | 2% | +43.20% | 11,817 | 8,252 |
| MAZDA CX-3 | 1% | 1% | -15.07% | 4,040 | 4,757 |
| FIAT 500X | 0% | 0% | -1.47% | 668 | 678 |
| TOTAL | +41.00% | 583,369 | 413,739 |
In addition to the Trax and Encore, GM also has more up-to-date, slightly larger subcompact offerings in the way of the Chevrolet Trailblazer and Buick Encore GX. Trailblazer sales increased 621.68 percent to 48,367 units after the first half of 2021, while Encore GX sales increased 276.82 percent to 44,679 units.
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Comments
The Ecosport was never a serious competitor in the North American market. It felt like Ford just wanted to say it had a vehicle in the segment and just walked away.
With this leaving and the Escape rumored to be on the chopping block for North America now that the Bronco Sport is on the market, Ford’s grand “One Ford” experiment appears to be coming to a sad end.
no no, its just becoming -one- Ford. As in a single product, haha
Shoulda kept it, changed its name to Mustang EcoSport
F-150 Eco-Sport?
Seems kind of counter-intuitive. But who knows. The once large Ford brand with at least one model in every category seems to be going the way of Buick. Once again, I find myself scratching my head and asking what they are thinking. Just like Buick when I first started with them back in 1988. They had so many models with 2 dr, 4 dr, wagon (4 of them!!) all the way from the smallest Skyhawk up to the flagship Park Avenue and/or Riviera. And they sold many cars each year. Now they have exactly 4 models (if you divide the Encore and Encore GX into two) and every one is an SUV/CUV. They are surviving, but to what extent? Ford, are you on that same path now?
GM may only sell like 4 different Buick models in the US, but they sell around 20 in China.
I completely agree, Ford is really slimming down their line-up, no new edge, no new subcompact crossover, no sedans, its a mess. Sad to see but consumers seem to be finding replacements in competitors
You understand that Buick dispensed with cars nobody wanted? That they didn’t discontinue very popular cars. And that we’re in a transition to electric cars. Right?
@Ned Nutty: I see what you are saying, but let’s look at this in reality. When people compared the sales numbers of the Buick sedans, it was against numbers from the top selling sedans in the market, which made the Buick sales look bad. If you look at the sedan numbers of Buick’s within the Buick line, those same sedans were a much larger number (percentage wise). To top it off, how often did you see any of them promoted? It’s not like Buick promotes the SUV’s much better, but they just let the sedans die on the vine and then said “Look, they just don’t sell”. To say nobody wanted them is an exaggeration for sure. Obviously, there are still a lot of sedans being sold every year. If most of those buyers even knew Buick offered a sedan and test drove them, they certainly wouldn’t have purchased a Toyota or Honda or Lexus, etc. That covers your first two parts. As for the transition to electric? Yes, I know that but Buick and GM have NOT shown us really anything there “yet” for Buick. It’s all been about Hummer, Chevy and Cadillac thus far. Typical for GM.
With the demise of Oldsmobile you would have thought Buick would have taken off.
Ned: Buick ceased doing any meaningful advertising decades ago. No sponsored TV shows. No magazine or on-the-web advertising to speak of. No radio spots. No, “Wouldn’t you really rather have a Buick” type campaigns.
This lack of action did nothing to kill off the “old man’s car” Buick image, and the younger buyers hardly knew the brand existed.
The idea of this vehicle was smart. How about a smaller/cheaper Trax for the entry level/first car market? The problem is that reviews started pouring in and it was clear the car wasn’t a serious effort but a Shinola Box.
A smaller, cheaper Trax is already already covered, at least to some extent, by the Chevy Spark.
One misstep IMO they’re making is importing 1st market vehicles in a developing nation after building for decades
costwise for the local population. Most can’t afford a Mustang, they should import their S/A and Chinese models to pick up the slack. Atleast GM makes a decent effort in less developing nations.
This is not a loss in terms of beautiful design… This Eco … so ugly
I will miss it like a hemorrhoid on my ass!
Not truly a direct competitor to encore is the echo sport was a bad foot and a half smaller and 20 horsepower less. I looked at it seriously last year but this thing was tiny, my golf cart could seat two better and the price was nothing special
The Ecosport was not true competition…..it is roughly one size smaller than either the Trax or the Encore. In fact, the Ecosport had no real crossover competition in the U.S., although the Hyundai Venue (a far more solidly-built product) probably came closest.