When the all-new Ford Edge crossover arrives at dealers next month, salesmen are going to have a new tool to help them sell the car. Because the Edge joins three other Ford SUVs and crossovers in similar price points — the Escape, Explorer and Freestyle — the company created a guide to help customers find the “right vehicle” for them. The Edge could, and probably will, cannibalize sales from Escape and Explorer, but Ford dealers seem to prefer to lose a sale to another Ford buyer, instead of another automaker.
From the announcement of the Edge last January and the subsequent news that Ford would sell the aging Escape compact SUV right alongside it, we’ve wondered: Who will buy the Escape when a shiny Edge is sitting right next to it? Dealers suggest they’ll order more four-cylinder Escapes and V-8 Explorers to complement the V-6-only Edge in the showroom. That makes some sense and spreads the sticker price gap a bit more realistically between those three cars. We don’t expect those shopping for a three-row Freestyle to cross-shop the Edge, no matter what the pricepoint.
[Stealing Sales, AutoWeek]
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