The automotive world has known for a good while now that a new SUV would be coming out of Ford, and the development of it being a full EV makes complete sense given timing and technological landscape. And, in truth, what else could they use as inspiration since their North American division has ceased production and/or sale of all models that do not fall into the ‘SUV’ or ‘Truck’ category.
That is, of course, with the sole exception being the Mustang. And so when it came time to engineer a new all-electric model, the Dearborn-based automaker selected their Pony car from which to take the most spiritual DNA from, if not in a purely visual sense.
It also seems that they really did not want this upcoming EV to be perceived as boring, another point in favour for the Mustang correlation - it’s their least boring range of cars by a country mile.
Unfortunately, in spite of this teaser and looming reveal in mid-November, there’s still extremely little we know about vehicle. Even its name remains veiled in mystery, though the ‘Mach 1’ moniker did loop around the rumour mill for a good while following the very first teaser in late 2018 - later the consensus revised it to ‘Mach-E’.
Given the technological leap, the fully electric new model will likely be priced at a significant premium over the current crop of Ford SUVs, perhaps even carrying a price tag higher than the rather luxurious Navigator from sister brand Lincoln.
Following its planned reveal on November 17th (technically, November 18th if you’re not in North American time zones), there will likely still be a long period before the Mustang-inspired electric SUV is truly ready for mass production. However, Ford should have pre-orders live following said reveal, allowing early adopters and brand loyalists to trade a deposit for the privilege of reserving one of the first examples for themselves.
From the teasers shown so far, and in particular the image released most recently, the EV will be rather compact relative to, say, the Ford Explorer. It will also sport a silhouette that attempts to find a happy middle ground between the practicality of wagon and the swoopy coupe-like roofline that evokes the profile of the Mustang’s Fastback.
In terms of performance, we should expect all-wheel drive from a two-motor arrangement with a bank of lithium ion batteries housed as low as possible in between the axles. Dynamically, it bloody better be talented enough to not embarrass the Mustang name while having enough sheer thrust to keep up with, if not outperform, rivals such as the Tesla Model X, Jaguar I-PACE, and Audi e-tron.
By the time of its likely release, the Ford will also have to contend with a number of other competitors as automakers roll out their own electric SUVs. Volvo, for example, very recently tore the wraps off their impressive XC40 Recharge with plans for the same electric treatment to be applied to the larger XC60.
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