Ford’s Test Fleet Shows It Really Is Giving Up On Passenger Cars

Automakers say things all the time. What really matters is what they do. And judging from these reader-submitted spy shots of what Ford is testing, it’s clearly serious about its intent to all but completely abandon passenger cars in favor of hotter-selling, taller vehicles.

Spotted in convoy running through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, our man-on-the-scene Brett sent us these photos of a handful of Dearborn’s crossovers, trucks, and vans.

Some are more obvious than others. Like the Explorer, Transit Connect, and F-Series trucks, spied completely undisguised in their current forms. But there are more full-size Transit vans and what appears to be the next-generation Escape/Kuga among them as well, all wrapped up in camouflage to keep them from our prying eyes.

They form part of a growing lineup of tall vehicles coming out of Dearborn these days, alongside the EcoSport, Edge, Flex, and Expedition. Soon there’ll be a new Bronco as well, and whatever Ford ultimately decides to call the project known until now as the Mach 1 – an electric performance crossover inspired by the Mustang pony car. And all that’s to say nothing of all the luxury crossovers that the Lincoln division is churning out and working on, like the MKC, MKT, Nautilus, Navigator, and the upcoming Aviator.

With erstwhile mainstay models like the Fusion and Focus vanishing from US showrooms, they’ll form the bulk of Ford’s offerings moving forward, with the performance-oriented Mustang and Ford GT standing among the last holdouts among passenger cars from the House That Hank Built.