Ford moves Escape production to 2021 after recall of Kuga vehicles

Ford Motor Co said on Tuesday that it will postpone the production of its plug-in Escape sport utility vehicle to next year because of its use of the same engine and battery parts that were recalled in Europe.

The automaker said it had recalled around 20,500 Kuga PHEV vehicles in Europe last month due to potential concerns with the vehicles’ high voltage battery, which could result in a fire under certain circumstances.

“Because we share components with Kuga PHEV, including battery cells, we are moving production to next year, while we work with the battery cell supplier to resolve the issue affecting Kuga PHEV in Europe,” a company spokesman in Europe said.

Ford, which builds Escape vehicles at Louisville plant in Kentucky, had first planned their production last spring. However, manufacturing was delayed to this summer after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the automaker to halt operations in several factories.