Goodbye, Farewell and Amen: The Last Ford Escape Gets a Sendoff, and Ford Stock (NYSE:F) Slips

Legacy automaker Ford (F) put an end to an era recently, as the Ford Escape saw its last production model officially roll off the assembly line at the Louisville Assembly Plant. And with that end came just a bit of fanfare. The fanfare was comparatively quiet, but still there. Investors were a little less than pleased, judging by the fractional loss put in Ford shares in Monday afternoon's trading.Claim 50% Off TipRanks Premium and Invest with Confidence Unlock hedge-fund level data and powerful investing tools designed to help you make smarter, sharper decisions Stay ahead of the market with the latest news and analysis so your portfolio is always positioned for maximum potential The team behind assembly on this last model got together, and personally autographed the various body panels of the car itself. This was not one or two signatures, either, but rather, a panoply of names across every inch of the body itself. The car—which was white—almost looks like it was painted an assortment of colors by the various color markers used to sign the car. And with the end of the Escape era, Ford is retooling the lines at Louisville to start building a new all-electric mid-size pickup coming in 2027. The truck is said to be based on Ford's new Universal EV Platform, a design that was set to allow more electric vehicles to exist by depending on a handful of somewhat modular components to be built into a new vehicle. This speeds up production and lets Ford get more new models into play faster. A Big Win for a Mustang Meanwhile, Ford took one of its Mustangs to the Top Gear test track, and handed it over to legendary test driver The Stig, who managed to pull off quite a feat therein. As it turned out, The Stig managed to beat an old lap time in the Mustang GTD. That lap time was The Stig driving a Porsche (POAHY) 911 GT3 RS. Reports noted that the Mustang turned in a lap time of 1:13.7, which is better than a full second quicker than the Porsche's lap. Ford has been eager to demonstrate the GTD's power on the track, referring to the GTD as "…a road-legal offshoot of Ford's GT3 racing program…," reports note. And with Ford actively referring to the Porsche as the "benchmark" in the field, for Ford to actually beat it on the Top Gear test track validates the notion fully. Is Ford Stock a Good Buy Right Now? Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on F stock based on two Buys, 10 Holds and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 36.06% rally in its share price over the past year, the average F price target of $13.27 per share implies 1.56% downside risk.