It may have leaked last week, but here at long last is the official gen on Ford’s first-ever all-electrci crossover, the supposedly-Mustang based Mustang Mach-E.
Actually, its Mustang genes are only skin deep - although the engineering team (a small group of freewheeling designers and engineers, working under the codename ‘Project Edison’) got their way when it came to extending the front of the car, for styling reasons, what lies beneath the Mach-E is essentially the same as you’d find under the new Kuga, or for that matter the Focus.
Ford calls the platform GE2 - Global Electrified 2 - and it's the Blue Oval's first dedicated electric car chassis. How that will work once Ford also begins to share Volkswagen's MEB electric car platform in Europe remains to be seen.
The first Mach-Es should reach customers by around this time next year, and they’ll come with a choice of both batteries and electric motors. Basic models will have a 75kWh battery, and single 255hp electric motor driving the rear wheels. Spec up, and you can have a 99kWh battery and a 290hp motor. Go further than that, and you can have four-wheel drive with two electric motors developing wither 255hp or as much as 335hp. Later on there will be a max-spec GT version with the big battery, two motors, and a whopping 460hp - the same power output as the snarling 5.0-litre V8 petrol engine found in the Mustang coupe - and 830Nm of torque.
One-charge range, according to the WLTP test, will be around 450km for basic versions, stepping up to almost 600km. Four-wheel drive models will go for between 420km and 590km.
The Mach-E will work with the latest ultra-fast 150kW charging points.The batteries are liquid-cooled for the best charging performance. 0-100km/h times will be around 7.0-8.0secs, while the top-spec GT version is targeting a sub-4.0sec acceleration time. High-spec models get Brembo brakes and Ford's fast-reacting 'MagneRide' adaptive suspension and the chassis has been tuned by Ford's 'Ford Performance' team using the Ford's racing simulator in North Carolina.
Inside, the minimalist cabin gets faint hints of the Mustang coupe’s retro ‘dual cowl’ design, but it’s dominated by a 15.5-inch Tesla-style tablet screen in the centre of the dash. That uses Ford’s latest SYNC4 infotainment software which, among other things, can accept live, over-the-air software updates. It also gets a physical ‘clickwheel’ controller mounted directly on the screen. That’s backed up by an all-digital 10.5-inch instrument panel. There’s an optional Bang & Olufsen sound system that effectively turns the entire dashboard into a sound bar. The car can be unlocked and started using your smartphone as a key.
It’ll be the most practical Mustang ever, too, with a 402-litre boot out the back, and an extra 100-litre ‘frunk’ under the nose.
Pricing is expected to start at around the £40,000 (€47,000) mark when the Mach-E arrives in the UK next year. "At the first-ever Detroit auto show, Henry Ford said he was working on something that would strike like forked lightning," said Bill Ford, the company's eponymous executive director. "That was the Model T. Today, the Ford Motor Company is proud to unveil a car that strikes like forked lightning all over again. The all-new, all-electric Mustang Mach-E. It's fast. It's fun. It's freedom. For a new generation of Mustang owners."
