The Ford Cortina is a mid sized family car sold by Ford of Britain in various guises from 1962 to 1982. The Cortina was Ford's mass-market mid-sized car and sold in enormous numbers, making it common on British roads. It was replaced in 1982 by the Ford Sierra. In other markets, particularly Asia and Australasia, it was replaced by the Mazda 626-based Ford Telstar.

The Ford Escape (designated U204) is a compact SUV sold by the automaker Ford Motor Company beginning in the 2001 model year and priced below the Ford Explorer. The Escape was sold in Europe as the Ford Maverick. It was jointly developed with Mazda, in which Ford owns a controlling interest, and was released simultaneously with the Mazda Tribute. In the United States, Ford's Mercury division released a luxury version called the Mariner starting with the 2005 model year. A hybrid version of the Escape was released in 2004, making it the first hybrid SUV. The Escape is built on the Ford CD2 platform, which is in turn based on the Mazda GF platform, which was used by the Mazda 626. The first generation Ford Escape was released in North America in 2001. It was slotted below the larger truck based Explorer in Ford's lineup, but was larger than the small SUV offerings from Honda and Toyota. At the time, most sport utility vehicles used a truck based Body-on-frame design. Solid rear axles were commonly used due to their ability to carry heavy loads at the expense of a comfortable ride and good handling. Ford realized that most SUV owners did not take their vehicles off road, and decided instead to use a car-like Monocoque design with a fully independent suspension and rack and pinion steering for the Escape. Although not meant for serious off-roading, a full time all wheel drive system supplied by Dana was optional which included a locking center differential activated by a switch on the dashboard. The all wheel drive system normally sends most of the power from the engine to the front wheels. If slipping is detected at the front, more power will be sent to the rear wheels in a fraction of a second. The entire braking system was built by Continental Teves including the ABS and various related suspension components. CKD production began in 2002 at Ford Lio Ho Motor Co. in Taiwan for various Asian markets.