2020 Ford Escape vs 2020 Hyundai Santa Fe

In case you didn’t hear, Ford came out with an electric crossover, calling it the Mustang Mach-E. Ford could have called it something else, but the marketing department decided to leverage the famous Mustang name to capture headlines and, hopefully, shoppers. What should not be overlooked is the fact Ford chose to make its first-ever standalone electric vehicle a crossover.

This choice is a testament to how far the sport utility vehicle has come. Paired with Ford's decision to phase out sedans and hatchbacks, it's clear the company is putting all of its eggs into its trucks, SUVs, and crossovers. Suffice it to say, there is just a bit of pressure on the redesigned 2020 Ford Escape.

While the Escape has been around since 2000, it came into its own in 2013 when the “One Ford” philosophy was adopted, meaning that vehicles would be sold in multiple markets around the globe. As a result, the U.S. got Europe’s Ford Kuga, rebranded as the Escape—a high-tech, handsome, and surprisingly athletic small SUV.

So, with all this mind, the new Escape needs to not only be an improvement over the previous generation to compete against the rest of the compact crossover segment, it also needs to win over would-be sedan and hatchback customers. Can the 2020 Escape rise to the occasion?

Last year, Hyundai changed its approach to the Santa Fe. The smaller five-passenger Santa Fe Sport got drop-kicked from the automaker’s lineup, replaced by this completely redesigned version of the SUV. The larger seven-passenger Santa Fe got a new name for one year (Santa Fe XL), and then the all-new 2020 Hyundai Palisade replaced that vehicle.

With the Palisade’s arrival, there is just one Santa Fe for 2020, a five-passenger crossover that resides in a sweet spot between traditional compact and midsize models. It gets several updates, too, including a standard rear-seat reminder system, an available camera-based Blind-Spot View Monitor system, and new design accents to better distinguish the top trim level.