--- title: "Ford Caught Testing Escape Crossover-Based ‘Courier’ Pickup" url: "https://pickuptrucktalk.com/2018/12/ford-caught-testing-escape-crossover-based-courier-pickup/" publisher: "Pickup Truck + SUV Talk" content_signal: "search=yes, ai-input=yes, ai-train=no" author: "Tim Esterdahl" published: "2018-12-15T01:42:57+00:00" modified: "2025-07-23T15:20:47+00:00" image: "https://pickuptrucktalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/ford-focus-pickup-renders.jpg" --- # Ford Caught Testing Escape Crossover-Based ‘Courier’ Pickup By Tim Esterdahl Published: 2018-12-15T01:42:57+00:00 Updated: 2025-07-23T15:20:47+00:00 ![Featured image]() ![Ford Focus Courier Pickup]() Now, when we first heard rumors that Ford might be readying a unibody crossover-based pickup dubbed “Courier,” which would share its chassis with the Escape, we were skeptical. But then Ford once again trademarked “Courier” here in America back during the summer. Then, just this week, the American automaker was spotted by [Motor1]() testing a hugely camouflaged vehicle. It’s so camouflaged in fact that it would appear Ford was doing the absolute most it could do to disguise the shape of the thing.![Ford Focus Courier Pickup]() Regardless whether this was the Courier undergoing early testing or not, we like the idea of bringing back the Courier nameplate. Courier is best known when it was used on the badge-engineered Mazda pickups sold in the 1970s here in the U.S. under the Ford brand. While we agree there’s room for some smaller—we mean smaller than the new Ranger—trucks in the market, we’re not sure we want to see crossover-based trucks rolling Americas freeways and (God forbid) backroads. After all, should Ford really follow the lead of [Hyundai’s coming CUV-based truck]()? For a truck to be a truck—especially a ‘Built-Ford-Tough’ truck—it needs to have a proper ladder frame underneath. Remember, it’s not like they’d be making an SUV into a truck. Ford would be making a car into a truck. That’s because, underneath, the Escape is a Ford Focus compact car. ![Ford Focus Courier Pickup]() Yes, this sounds like the makings of an all-new Ranchero. And that’d be cool; there’s not doubting that. However, if Ford is going to make a new Ranchero, it better be Raptor V6 powered and have rear-wheel drive. And there’s little chance the Courier will be that. ## Structured page information ~~~json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Article", "@id": "https://pickuptrucktalk.com/2018/12/ford-caught-testing-escape-crossover-based-courier-pickup/#article", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://pickuptrucktalk.com/2018/12/ford-caught-testing-escape-crossover-based-courier-pickup/" }, "author": { "name": "Tim Esterdahl", "@id": "https://pickuptrucktalk.com/#/schema/person/82b06f99329f69a069a5ab6caed18593" }, "headline": "Ford Caught Testing Escape Crossover-Based ‘Courier’ Pickup", "datePublished": "2018-12-15T01:42:57+00:00", "dateModified": "2025-07-23T15:20:47+00:00", "mainEntityOfPage": { "@id": "https://pickuptrucktalk.com/2018/12/ford-caught-testing-escape-crossover-based-courier-pickup/" }, "wordCount": 294, "commentCount": 0, "publisher": { "@id": "https://pickuptrucktalk.com/#organization" }, "image": { "@id": 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