However according to an article published in Popular Mechanics (March 1981), the letters EXP are supposed to stand for Erika Project Personal car (Project cars are designated X).

Ford's feeling was that if you want room for four or five passengers buy an Escort or a Granada. The whole marketing philosophy behind this car was rather like that of a European GT Machine -- a personal-transportation vehicle for two, with a shotgun seat for emergency transport of a third. The designation of EXP, reflected this philosophy.

This does however bring up a totally new question... who the hell is Erika and what does she have to do with this car?

There was a story that circulated in some circles that that Erika was the name of the British program manager's secretary... Close, but no cigar for you Monica… The real answer is far less scandalous.

The Ford Escort Mk III, codenamed "Erika", was the third generation UK Escort (First Generation here in the US) and was launched in September 1980. The code name alluded to the leader of the product planning team, Erick A. Reickert.

The North American Escort introduced at this time was a derivative. The two vehicles were intended to share component designs, but separate engineering organizations and government regulations made this impractical.

For those who are interested I found that the Mk II Escort was code named "Brenda". Which supports the idea that UK designers used different project naming conventions then their US counterparts. (American platforms at the time used animal names, i.e. Fox, Panther, etc…)

So now that we have that solved, we have a new mystery… What does LN7 stand for?