Ford is currently hyping up the Mustang Mach-E ahead of customer deliveries and the automaker’s new CEO, Jim Farley, is not shying away from comparing the upcoming electric car to Tesla.
In recent years, several legacy automakers venturing into electric vehicles have shied away from comparisons with Tesla — even though the California-based automaker remains the clear benchmark for new electric vehicles.
Ford is now coming to market with what you could argue is their first all-electric vehicle: the Mustang Mach-E.
While the automaker has produced other EVs in the past, they were based on gasoline vehicles and converted to electric propulsion.
The Mustang Mach-E is the first all-electric vehicle designed to be electric from the ground up.
As a small electric SUV, many comparisons have been made with Tesla and its Model Y.
Jim Farley, Ford’s new CEO, claims that the Mach-E will be a true competitor to Tesla. He said in an interview with Detroit Free Press:
“The vehicle is a game changer. For me, the Mach-E is the first true competitor with Tesla. It’s got Detroit swagger. It’s a Mustang. Tesla is not a Mustang.”
Ford has been betting on its Mustang brand carrying enough weight to kick start its electric vehicle effort.
As for the comparison to Tesla, the Model Y and Mach-E compare really well.
They are about the same size with the Model Y only being slightly bigger.
Tesla’s electric crossover takes the edge when it comes to performance:
| Ford Mustang Mach-E AWD Ext. Range | Tesla Model Y Long Range AWD | |
| Price: | $49,700 before Incentives | $49,990 before Incentives |
| Range: | 270 miles (EPA) | 316 miles (EPA) |
| 0-60 mph: | mid-5 seconds | 4.8 seconds |
| Cargo Space: | 59.6 cubic feet | 66 cubic feet |
But Ford is going to have a cost advantage in the US thanks to the $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles that Tesla buyers don’t have access to anymore.
With their MSRPs being virtually the same, Mach-E buyers are going to save an extra $7,500
After launching and starting to take reservations last year, Ford has now put the Mach-E in production at its factory in Mexico and it is about to start deliveries.
Farley added about the situation:
“We’ll start to launch at the end of the year. We’re just entering early mass production now, where we start to build the Mustang Mach-E’s in volume. We’re not ramping up that curve and making hundreds a day. We’re literally building Mach-E’s right now and building a lot but in lower volumes. We’ll build them and test them and make sure they’re perfect. We sort out every problem. Once we’re satisfied we’ve got every problem solved, then we turn on the light switch and go into job one.”
Deliveries are going to be scheduled with Ford dealerships, but most vehicles were already reserved through the company reservation process.
You can check your local dealer for a price or more information regarding availability.
Electrek’s Take
I think Ford will find success with the Mach-E, especially as long as Ford buyers still have access to the full federal tax credit, which they should for the next 18 to 24 months.
But with the election coming, I was just thinking that Ford could be one of the big losers in terms of electric vehicles in the US short-term if Biden wins and the democrats gain control of congress.
That could likely lead to a long-awaited revamp of the EV tax credit to remove the cap by manufacturer and without it, there’s no doubt that Ford’s Mach-E and F-150 Electric are going to have a much harder time to compete with Tesla Model Y and Cybertruck.
However, that would be more of a short-term problem and the removal of the 200,000-delivery cap would be good for Ford long term too.
What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.
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Author: Fred Lambert
Source: Electrek
