ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, December 28, 1995            TAG: 9512280038
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: B-10 EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: DETROIT
SOURCE: Associated Press 

FORD HOPES ITS ESCORT REDESIGN KEEPS IT, AND TRACER, BEST SELLERS

Born in 1980 as a 1981 model, Ford's Escort quickly became the best-selling small car in the United States.

The No. 2 automaker is hoping a redesign of the Escort and its twin, the Mercury Tracer, will help it keep it near the top of best-seller lists as it fights formidable competitors in the mid-1990s.

The wraps came off the 1997 Tracer on Wednesday. The new Escort will be shown to the public at next week's North American International Auto Show in Detroit - official Escort details won't be released until then. But the two models still share most basic features and components, so a look at the Tracer's changes reveal the Escort's direction, as well.

Ford reportedly spent $750 million on what its engineers describe as a ``major freshening'' of the vehicles - a relatively small investment for a car that has accounted for more than a quarter of the Ford Division's U.S. sales since 1981. The company invested $6 billion in the Contour and Mercury Mystique, introduced last year.

About 5 million Escorts have been sold.

Although the basic underpinnings of the new models are carried over from the present version, which was new for 1991, nearly everything seems changed. All the body panels are new, with a slightly more contoured look that picks up styling cues from the Contour and the 1996 Taurus and Mercury Sable.

Body sides stamped from a single piece of steel provide a more solid road feel and better fit between panels, Ford engineers say. The old Escort-Tracer engine is supplanted by a refined four-cylinder powerplant that produces 110 horsepower, up about 25 percent. Platinum-tipped spark plugs stretch the regular tune-up interval to 100,000 miles. Transmission, braking system, suspension and steering also are tweaked.

The new cars are four inches longer, have more head and leg room and feature a one-piece dashboard panel that combines heater and sound system controls. They will be available in the spring in four-door sedan and station wagon versions.

As Escort is to the company's Ford Division, Tracer is the entry-level vehicle for Lincoln-Mercury. Major competitors are Honda's Civic models and General Motors' Saturn. In 1995, each of the three automakers sold about 265,000 of those models.

LENGTH: Medium:   51 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  AP. Ford Motor Co. unveiled the 1997 Mercury Tracer, the
          Escort's twin, on Wednesday. color.