The Escort was a commercial success in several parts of Western Europe, but nowhere more so than in the UK, where the national bestseller of the 1960s, BMC's Austin/Morris 1100 was beginning to show its age, while Ford's own Cortina had grown, both in dimensions and in price, beyond the market niche at which it had originally been pitched.

The same tuned 1.3 L engine was also used in a variation sold as the Escort Sport, that used the flared front wings from the AVO range of cars, but featured trim from the more basic models.

Perhaps the Escort's greatest victory was in the 1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally, driven by Finland's Hannu Mikkola and Swedish co-driver Gunnar Palm.

In August 1977, the Escort received its first noticeable facelift, with the front grille, boot lid and steering wheel hub cap being fitted with the oval Ford logo instead of the previous single-letter lettering.

[28][29] 1300GT / 1600 GT = 1300 or 1600 twin venturi carburetor "Goldcrest" Popular discontinued from Jan 1980 The Mk II Escort was assembled at Ford Australia's Homebush Plant, Sydney from March 1975 to 1980 in 2-door and 4-door sedan, and 2-door panel van forms – the estate versions were unavailable to the Australian market.

Codenamed internally by Ford Australia as "BC", the Australian Escort range's bodies were modified to fit the larger engine and a redesigned fuel-tank, which involved the placement of the fuel filler being behind the rear numberplate.

It also revamped the image of its 'leisure range' by introducing the Escort Sundowner panel van, positioning it as a youth-orientated lifestyle vehicle complete with bold body decorations and domed side windows, available in 1.6L and 2.0L forms.

Australian Escort production ceased in late 1980, with 79,142 examples of the Mk II produced,[18] the range being replaced by FWD derivatives of the Mazda 323/Familia, namely the Ford Laser 3-door and 5-door hatchback and the Meteor 4-door sedan.

[23] Early in 1979 the 1600 sport was launched, featuring a two-door bodyshell, revised gear ratios and a sporty look, using the 1600 motor proving to become a highly popular vehicle to the present day.

In the 1979 season of the World Rally Championship, Björn Waldegård took the drivers' title, Hannu Mikkola was runner-up and Ari Vatanen finished the year in fifth place, all driving Escort RS1800s.

The 2.0 L RS2000 version, with its distinctively slanted polyurethane nose, and featuring the Pinto engine from the Cortina, was announced in the UK in March 1975[38] and introduced in Germany in August 1975,[39] being reportedly produced in both countries.

Development work had effectively begun even before the MkII's launch in 1974 with the start of the CVH engine programme, with the final exterior styling and interior design being signed off in late 1977.

The suspension was fully independent all around, departing from the archaic leaf spring arrangement found on its predecessors and the bodyshell was on average, 75 kg lighter than that of the Mk II,[43] yet Ford claimed was stiffer than the outgoing car.

Ford however, was conscious that loyal customers of the previous generation Escorts may be deterred by the Mk III's advanced design, and hence the car was marketed in the United Kingdom with the strapline "Simple is Efficient".

The Escort Mark III was voted European Car of the Year in 1981, fighting off stiff competition from Italy's Fiat Panda and British Leyland's Austin Metro.

These lead-in models were extremely basic even for their time; in addition to the aforementioned dashboard, they came with just partial door cards with no armrests, vinyl seats (cloth was an optional extra), and no rear parcel tray or push button tailgate release.

In September 1983, the revised suspension mounts from the Escort-based Orion and the larger Sierra steering rack were introduced as running changes for the 1984 model year which also coincided with other minor upgrades across the range, which included revised trim and steering wheels, new style badging and improved sound systems across the range, whilst the austere base models were finally given the "L" specification dashboard and improved seat trim.

However, the performance was worse than the 1.1 L petrol version, with only 54 bhp (40 kW; 55 PS) and a top speed of barely 90 mph (140 km/h) – which prompted Ford to eventually enlarge the engine to 1.8 L some years later in the MK4 Escort.

Persistent problems during the vehicle's development, coupled with unease within the marketing department that a Mk III Escort with rear wheel drive would be perceived as a retrograde step and prompted Ford to drop plans for its production and instead begin work on a bespoke all-wheel-drive model to beat the Audi Quattro, designed and built from scratch, resulting in the RS200.

[55] The main engineering change was to the rear suspension – namely the use of a solid beam axle on leaf springs in place of the fully independent set-up found on the hatchback and estate.

Equipment levels were improved slightly, with the standard van now gaining the better "L" spec dashboard with an opening glovebox, centre air vents and 3-speed blower fan.

Aside from interior and exterior enhancements including spoilers and 14-inch alloy wheels, the XR3's engine produced 82.9 CV (61 kW), a bit more than the regular versions but not quite enough to be considered a sporting car.

It was instantly recognisable as an updated version of the previous model, taking styling cues from the recently introduced Scorpio/Granada III – with a smooth-style nose and the "straked" rear lamp clusters smoothed over.

A new subframe for mounting the powertrain was introduced to combat earlier criticisms of drivetrain refinement of the original car, as well as more tweaking to the suspension settings to address the long standing issues with the Escort's damping and handling characteristics.

Carried over from the previous range was the 3-speed automatic which was ultimately replaced late in the production run with a variant of the CTX stepless gearbox as first used in the Fiesta a couple of years earlier.

Spring 1990 saw the final revisions – the Popular now gained a radio cassette and a 5-speed gearbox, whilst catalytic converters and central point fuel injection were now available on the 1.4 and 1.6 CVH engines.

The Escort Eclipse (based on the 1.3 LX) fitted with electric windows, alloy wheels, boot spoiler and only available in two colours – Amalfi Blue or Flambeau Red (shades that were previously reserved for the XR3i) – was sold up until the model's discontinuation in September 1990.

[69] This model was only available with a catalyzed version of the 1.8-liter "AP" engine and a high standard of equipment, including the Ghia's body-coloured rear spoiler and distinct, eight-hole alloy wheels.

[76] This generation also spawned two VW-branded cars with the same mechanics (but different body styles and interiors) called Volkswagen Pointer (five-door hatchback) and Logus (a two-door saloon).

This used the same existing 115 PS (85 kW) 1.8 L Zetec-E engine found in other cars in the range, but included a body kit borrowed from the now cancelled RS2000 model, part-leather seats plus the standard fitment of ABS.