It does sound pretty smart, lop off some customers from Jeep and Toyota who arent totally brand loyal and lure in some new ones that wouldn’t have considered the other two.

I know the UK has a mandatory retirement age for commercial pilots, but this still reminds me of those stories you see from time to time where some elderly guy in Connecticut gets in his car to visit the post office, and turns up in North Carolina several days later confused and dehydrated. 

I kind of wonder if Ford is positioning it as a middle ground, sort of overlapping the Wrangler and 4Runner. 

Well, a 2-door body style and removable roof and doors should provide some differentiation. 

Easy to get in and out of, fairly bland styling, low prices, and easy credit terms. Mitsubishis are ideally suited to the Old Country Buffet parking lot. 

Toyota with the 4Runner is the next closest, but a pretty different package. 

The Wrangler's windshield frame doesn't fold anymore anyway, just the glass. 

Technically, yeah, I suppose the Squareback was just a 2-door station wagon unless you want to emphasize the Porsche family relationship.

Production stopped back in 2017, the factory is owned by a Chinese company now, but I have no idea what they’re doing with it.

Specifically, a 2-door wagon with sporting pretensions, not just any old utilitarian wagon (usually based on a sports/GT car).

If you look at the older advertising, yes. Before the term “SUV” was coined, Suburbans absolutely were called station wagons. And Chrysler also referred to their minivans as wagons in some of their early ads as well.

And this is the same attitude that too many judges also have about sexual assault. "Oh, you only raped her, not like it was murder. 12 months, minus time served" 

They probably help with rear visibility, too. At least to a degree. 

Maybe not, Toyota fixed it so that they all have to be mounted to the carpet with those plastic hooks now. 

Progress is progress, my city just dropped off the list of 10 worst places to live in my state, and I'm pretty happy about that.

Doesn’t Detroit also have the highest car theft rate in the country as well, along with a police department that is seemingly unable to do anything about it (and, in some cases, has actually been part of the problem)?

Actually, the Chinese copy might more reliable than the Evoque. 

I had two Escapes as company cars at my last job, a 2017 and a 2019, both had the same defect with the plastic trim piece at the top of the dashboard under the windshield. Tucked under the A-pillar trim on one side, sitting on top with the rough unfinished edge exposed on the other. Except the correctly installed side…

This isn’t anything new - anyone watch coldwarmotors on YouTube? He’s found two completely missing body welds on the ‘60 Plymouth he’s rebuilding.

And $40,000 invested into an S&P 500 index fund in the spring of 2009 would likely be worth over $150,000 today.