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Is everything a Ford Escape underneath? Or a Maverick? Or a Bronco Sport?  Like most manufacturers, Ford uses a few platforms to do a wide variety of jobs. But one, the C2, underpins many of its most successful vehicles, from an SUV to a truck.

None of Ford’s other platforms see the kinds of duties that the C2 does: it underpins SUVs, luxury SUVs, off-road SUVs, a van, and even the Maverick truck. What makes the C2 platform so versatile for SUVs, and how does it change for each vehicle?

What Ford vehicles use the C2 platform?

People loading a sofa onto a new 2023 Ford Maverick pickup truck, highlighting how much a fully loaded one costs
2023 Ford Maverick | Ford

Ford gets a lot of mileage out of the C2 and uses it for the Maverick truck, the Escape SUV, the Bronco Sport SUV, the Lincoln Corsair luxury SUV, and in other countries, the Ford Fusion and Modeo use it. The Transit Connect city van also did but, sadly, it departs the Ford lineup for 2023. Gone, too, is the Focus that used the same platform.  

All of these vehicles have several things in common. According to Ford Authority, they all are a unibody with MacPherson strut suspension on the front, as well as a multi-link rear suspension. They can all be configured as front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. The engines are all laid out in a transverse manner.

One genius ability of the Escape platform is the engine choices

The platform can accommodate at least five different engines. AT 6:44 in the video above, you can get a sense of how Ford tried to tweak the C2 to meet the new demands of new engines, and that the new platform saved Ford two years of development time on the Maverick.

The Escape’s base engine is a small 180-horsepower three-cylinder. The Lincoln Corsair gets a powerful 2.3-liter four-cylinder with 285 horsepower. But it was also designed to accommodate the 2.5-liter hybrid system that comes standard in the Maverick and is available on some of the others. With it, the Maverick can attain up to 42 mpg in the city, and 33 on the highway.

The variety of engines add to the different charter that each vehicle has. The Corsair is downright quick, while the Escape can be ordered as a plug-in hybrid that gets 221 horsepower.  

What is the same in these vehicles?

A yellow Ford Bronco Sport Heritage Edition.
The 2023 Ford Bronco Sport Heritage Edition | Ford
Front angle view of red 2023 Ford Escape
2023 Ford Escape | Ford

Ford has done a lot of work to differentiate these vehicles from each other.

The Maverick is the longest, with a 121-inch wheelbase, which contributes to its 54.4-inch open bed. The Bronco Sport and the Lincoln Corsair both have about a 105-inch wheelbase, which gives them a lot of room in the back. The Escape is about the same, too, but thanks to its stylish but sloping roofline, it has less cargo capacity in the back.

The new Tremor package for the Maverick, and the FX4 off-road package for the Bronco Sport, both showcase what Ford can do when it adds off-road suspension and a lift to these two. The Bronco Sport Badlands, for example, comes with an advanced all-wheel drive with a terrain selector. It gives the Sport a modicum of off-road ability, and the new Tremor Maverick is expected to get the same treatment.

What’s the next C2 vehicle?

The 2021 Ford Edge Titanium Elite midsize SUV in dark red parked outside of a dark glass skyscraper
2021 Ford Edge Titanium Elite | The Ford Motor Company

Many are expecting Ford to resurrect the Edge SUV with a C2 platform in the next couple of years. Today’s Ford Edge is a larger, more luxurious, SUV than the Escape and it’s built on a different platform, the CD4, which also underpins the Lincoln MKZ or Nautilus and the last, dearly departed, Lincoln Continental.

Related

Ford Bronco Sport vs. Ford Maverick: Which Vehicle Is Better?

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Writer - Sedans & Coupes

Dan Mayfield

Dan joined MotorBiscuit in 2022 with over 20 years of experience in journalism and a lifelong passion for anything related to the automotive industry. He grew up wrenching a 1949 Ford pickup truck and an MGB with his dad, learning how not to wire a fuel pump (he inadvertently set the MGB on fire).

After earning a bachelor’s degree in photojournalism from the University of New Mexico, Dan has contributed his expertise to a range of local outlets, including the City of Albuquerque, US Eagle, and the Alliance for Local Economic Prosperity.

On weekends, Dan spends Saturdays enjoying “cars and coffee” chats and, on Sundays, he’s watching the Route 66 Cruise roll through town. He also races motorcycles, and it’s not unusual to find him elbows-deep in his latest cafe racer build.

Taking advantage of the local desert terrain, Dan also enjoys exploring and driving off-road in his trusty Ram Rebel pickup truck, which provides personal insights into his contributions to our Trucks, SUVs, & Crossovers coverage. Dan strives to give our readers unique information about the dynamic automotive market, reading anything that has to do with cars, trucks, bikes, 4X4s, and, in his words, “everything with a motor.”

Dan has earned a number of accolades from the Public Relations Society of America, and is a University of Southern California, Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism Fellow.