This phenomenon is starting to happen in America, too. In December 2022, the Ford Mustang Mach-E electric crossover outsold the Mustang coupe in the land of apple pie by nearly 1,000 units. What’s more, I’ve previously reported that Ford is ramping up Mach-E production for 2023. Unless customers really show up for the new 2024 Mustang coupe, we’re looking at a future where the Mustang brand is primarily electric.
This might come as a complete shock to people used to my depreciated German shitbox tendencies, but I am a Mustang guy. I was, to borrow a line from Odd Future founding member Hodgy, one of the children who fled houses on Mustang horses and went jousting. I dropped the fuel tank on a New Edge lying on concrete, rode the axle tramp of S197s, skated a Mach 1 on cold tires through second, through third, until some semblance of traction was found, and dropped my jaw through the concrete like a cast iron bathtub out of a tenth floor window when the Dark Horse came out of nowhere in Detroit. I’ve loved every minute of it and everything Mustang stands for. The speed, the accessibility, the mild sense of danger knowing that eight-cylinder missiles with an accountant-fixed price cap being turned out at a high enough rate and with a scratchy-enough interior that the average late-twenty-something can afford to drive one may have some corners cut. Will the MT-82 in a GT spectacularly fail on the next hard shift? Who knows? It’s here for a good time, not a long time.
From this position, you might expect me to have feelings about the Mach-E. I do, but they aren’t the feelings you’d expect. The Mach-E is a real Mustang for two reasons. First, because Ford says so, and second, because it’s one of the few electric cars that actually wants to play. A Porsche Taycan is a much more accomplished performance car, but it doesn’t want to powerslide at the slightest provocation in the same way even a base Mach-E does. The Mach-E is rowdy enough to deserve the Mustang name, and if we’re going for hot takes here, the steering effort on the Mach-E feels more linear than that on a regular Ecoboost coupe. Sure, the ride is harsh and the brake blending could use some work, but the overall feel made me run through a full charge in one Mach-E in just 12 hours without straying outside of a 35-mile radius just because I was having fun. That’s what a proper Mustang should make you want to do.
More importantly, many of the people who had 2005 Mustangs when they were young are now parents, and fitting a car seat, a stroller, a diaper bag, and all the trimmings in a Mustang coupe is just so damn difficult. If you’re a parent and thinking of buying a crossover SUV or a minivan, by all means do it. It will make your life so much easier. Melding a little bit of Mustang character with all the space required to do modern family things is an absolute blast from my experience, and it certainly helps that the Mach-E is a well-executed product by normal car standards. On all the examples I’ve driven, build quality and material quality have been quite good. The upgraded B&O stereo on Premium and higher models is a cut above similar branded systems in other Ford products, rear seat space is quite good, and cargo space with the seats up feels as usable as in many other compact crossovers. Aside from a few niggling UX quirks, the Mach-E feels like its price tag, something that I can’t say about the Tesla Model Y. Even for people who don’t care about the Mustang mystique, the Mach-E is a good car, which opens up a world of buyers beyond the confines of the performance car market. The future of the Mustang may be looking mostly electric, but I’m alright with that. It’s still looking engaging, quick, visually-loud, and somewhat irreverent, same as it ever was. While the upcoming seventh-generation Mustang coupe will likely be the last combustion-powered pony car, I have high hopes for whatever electric replacement is coming down the line. If the Mach-E is anything to go by, it should be a blast. (Photo credits: Ford) Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
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Got a hot tip? Send it to us here. Or check out the stories on our homepage. The automotive equivalent of a tribute band. I just wish this damn thing was less expensive. It’s pricey for what it is and when you add all the bells and whistles it’s up against some pretty enticing ICE options. But either way…it’s fine. Its existence doesn’t irk me in the slightest. In July 2022 “Compared with an SUV, the Ford Mustang offers limited practicality in exchange for sporty performance. Consequently, the Mustang can be a tough sell, as suggested by its 70-day stopover at dealerships.” And that’s AFTER stopping production several times earlier in the year: “Ford Mustang production at the Ford Flat Rock Assembly Plant has been impacted numerous times over the last several months for more than one reason. Back in September [2021], that reason was a major gas leak, while a pause in 2022 Ford Mustang production last month [Jan 2022] was attributed to the semiconductor chip shortage. Now, sources familiar with the matter have told Ford Authority that 2022 Ford Mustang production will once again cease temporarily, this time for a full three weeks [Feb, Mar 2022]. So it’s not exactly and completely only because E Mustang sales are through the roof. Ordinary Mustang sale went into the basement. Then we decided a (near-) mortgage payment for a new car is ludicrous and would never be worth the gas savings. I’ll also die on the hill the Mach-E is better described as a sports wagon than a crossover/SUV, but that’s another discussion. Ford is dumbfoundingly success with their names/marketing/sales. All the Bronco special editions, etc people are such suckers for on a massively high production vehicle. Everything now gets a first, second, 99th, limited edition. It’s a vehicle, not a personal affront, and I’m officially too goddamned old to care about such small details, although I’m certainly jealous of those who have such precious little to worry about that they have time to argue online about the name of a car. The change worked pretty well for Dodge over the past couple of decades and I’m sure it will work out for Ford. No sir, they may have co-opted the name, but that does not make it correct. A fun 4 door EV, is still not a RWD 2 door coupe Pony car. By this logic, a Macan would be a 911 if Porsche said so. I mean, yes, “Because Ford says so” is technically enough, since they own the brand and can do what they want with it. But the Mach E is just a fundamentally different type of vehicle from the Mustang, and trying to equate the two by tacking a horsey badge and some Mustang-esque taillights onto Ford’s new BEV crossover is some pretty weak tea.
