Ford Escape about to enter showrooms as company determines hail damage

Louisville, KY (WDRB News) -- The new Louisville built Ford Escape has started to be shipped to dealers.

Last month's hail storm slowed the process a bit.

Ford continues to look at how many Escapes were damaged from the April 28 severe storm that moved through Louisville that evening, but says the new re-designed vehicle will soon show up in showrooms.

"We are actually shipping vehicles right now, we just started that," says the manager of the Louisville Assembly Plant, John Savona.

Savona made his comments as the new Escape?is introduced as the official pace vehicle of the Quaker State 400 at the Kentucky Speedway later this summer.

It?was several weeks ago on a Saturday evening when the hail storm damaged some of the newly built Escapes that were parked outside several locations throughout the city.

"We were definitely impacted by the hail storm," says Savona. "We are still assessing the number of vehicles that were damaged and the extent of the damage on each vehicle, we have a very rigorous inspection process that we are going through and we will not release any of those vehicles to customers until they meet the highest quality standards that we have here at the Louisville Assembly Plant."

Savona says he doesn't yet know how many Escapes were damaged by the storm. They were parked outside several locations awaiting shipment after they undergo what the company calls a completed inspection of a newly designed product.

"We have been testing all of the vehicles in the plant with the engineers, they have been subject to many tests before they hit the road," says Steve Stone, the UAW Building Chairman at LAP.

Dealers are eager to see the new Escape.? "We are very excited," says Ford dealer Kevin Collins. "It is a fabulous product, it is exactly what customers are longing for and we cannot wait until they hit showrooms."

Ford spent more than $600 million retooling the Louisville Assembly Plant to build the Escape.

3,200?workers are on the job now at the plant, with a third shift scheduled to be added to be added later this year.

The price of the new Escape starts at $22,000 and climbs to 32,000 for the deluxe model.

Copyright 2012 WDRB News.? All Rights Reserved.

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