Ford Is Right to Brand Its Electric Crossover A Mustang

"Michael Cohen" (hofmeisterkinky) 11/20/2019 at 14:34 • Filed to: None

2

34

Let me acknowledge that calling an !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , officially Mustang Mach-E, is Ford seeming to drop a huge steaming pony poop in the lap of their most enthusiastic fans. An EV (and a crossover at that!) has no mechanical connection to the long-loved internal combustion muscle car. Ford is saying: “We will use the name you have cherished for more than half a century on a product that to you is anathema to all you hold automotively dear.”

To some it is a blatantly cynical piece of marketing as if Ford could not have trolled harder if they tried ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ). Except that wasn’t Ford’s intention. I’m pretty sure the naming is sincere as well as accurate, but more on that later. Ford is willing to risk torching the legacy of its most celebrated model brand because cars are going electric. In twenty years give or take it won’t matter what we combustion engine diehards think. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and rapid improvement in battery efficiency will force EV adoption. Ford may have only two major product cycles to get EVs right or they will be gone. The product will be the most important thing but if leveraging the beloved Mustang name can help, Ford has decided to do it, risk to the pony brand be damned.

Slowly, car makers not named Tesla are learning what buyers of EVs want and Ford’s marketers showed this week that they get it. Whether the product developers get it is yet to be seen. I had a wide ranging conversation with a friend who is a financial advisor to companies in the auto industry. He’s not exactly an enthusiast. He doesn’t quite understand guys like me who insist on manual transmissions and naturally aspirated engines. It isn’t important for his job that he understand guys like me since my tastes represent a negligible part of the market. We briefly argued over whether the Mustang GT is turbocharged. ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .) Just the same, he knows a ton more about the industry, even if I know a bit about a few cars. Given the knowledge difference, I decided to let him talk while I mostly listened. I brought up electrification. (He had a lot to say that I might share another day.) I had the unoriginal insight that Tesla got some things right that none of the carmakers understood before. EVs could be fast. EVs could be aspirational.

All the hybrids and EV experiments from major car companies before Tesla had been about efficiency, economy, saving the planet, or just doing alternate energy stuff to keep legislators off their backs with token projects to feign that they cared about saving the planet. Almost a decade after Tesla’s introduction of its Roadster and a few decades after GM’s failed EV1 project, America’s largest automaker still didn’t get it. The Bolt may or may not be a decent car (I’m agnostic not having driven one), but it is a sales failure and I think that’s down to it being designed for utility. Raphael Orlove, got it right on the Bolt vs the Mustang Mach-E, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Based on price a Bolt can be crossed shopped with entry level cars from BMW and Mercedes. Or if you prefer a more direct comparison based on shape, then put the Bolt against a well optioned semi-luxury hatch like the Golf GTI. GM styled the Bolt to maximize interior space like an entry level hatchback, hence !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which is to say the Bolt looks cheap. That shape may work well for Honda’s least expensive new vehicle in the US, but it is not going to work for many buyers at $30k out the door. Yowza, a quick check on Autotrader and the 2019 Bolts are listed at $28.9k with an MSRP of $44k!

My friend said something I thought was insightful about Tesla buyers: It is a sports car for people who don’t want to show they want a sports car. I would tweak that a little and say Teslas are cars for people who want sports cars, won’t admit it and don’t know what a sports car is—which should be light, handle well and above all be engaging all around, not just with the gas pedal or throttle pedal or whatever it’s called on a Tesla since it has no gas or throttle. Sports car is not only or in some cases even about 0-60 mph. Whether you agree with my assessment of the dynamic properties of Teslas or whether you like my definition of sports car, Tesla has built a brand on aspiration and sportiness—and they’ve succeeded (or at least convinced financiers they will succeed). GM has not yet. Ford may be on the brink.

Teslas are certainly fast. My dad gave me the honor of having the first drive off the lot in his new P85D. I floored it onto the highway and my dad banged his head on the headrest and nearly passed out. Internal combustion engines don’t have the throttle response or torque of a Tesla.

So imagine you’re a marketer at Ford and you’ve learned from Tesla that your EV brand must stand for aspiration and sport. You could try to build a brand from scratch but that’s hard, especially today. The media landscape is so fragmented you’d have to spend gazillions on ads to do that (you’re going to spend gazillions anyway) but there are only so many football games on Saturday and Sunday and only so many breaks in the action to showcase automobiles, razor blades, and ED pills. EVs are hard enough to sell, despite the hype and predictions, they are still 1% of new car sales. ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , as opposed to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , is tiny, selling just about one quarter of million cars in 2018. Ford sold ten times as many vehicles just the in US. Today, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! around half of Tesla). So you look at your brand portfolio. One Twitter commenter said Ford should name the EV a Coronet since its closer to these crossovers. Another said Falcon. I’m not young; I’m 45 years old with a strong interest in performance cars and I’ve heard the Coronet and Falcon names a couple times and have no idea what either is. To the Coronet brand fans, OK Boomer! Your goal as marketer is sales, not some ethereal tether across time to the old car most like the new one. Ask Porsche how well the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! for their four cylinder Boxsters and Caymans. Admittedly the problem is the engine not the name... I digress. Another tweeter suggested Fusion, at least its something Ford still makes(!), because of connotations of power generation. Unlike the Coronet, Fusion is a known brand at least a little today but it is hardly aspirational. Matt Farah suggests Lincoln !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . I think he is being facetious but people are saying stuff like this seriously. The Mark may be closer to the spirit of the new EV crossovers (I’m vague on what is a Mark), but neither Lincoln nor Mark are things car buyers have cared about for decades. If new brand building is hard, resurrecting a crap one is harder. Those of us old enough may remember the ad campaign, “ !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .” If you haven’t heard of Oldsmobile that shows you know exactly how well that worked. Lincoln sales represent less that 5% of Ford’s vehicles made per year. I’d be shocked if Ford’s consumer focus groups show any affinity to the brand from anyone under 65, and even among AARP card carriers the brand is probably staid.

Back to our Ford marketing honcho. The F-Series trucks are your bread and butter with over 900k vehicles sold every year in the US but it’s a brand tied trucks and is the golden goose and it doesn’t fit and you don’t risk it. “But what about Mustang? Isn’t Ford risking that?” Yes, the are. So what? !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The car magazines feature it ad nauseum against the Camaro. There are !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . If you were lucky to take a vacation to some warm spot !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!   !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!   !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!   !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!   !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . And yet, Ford sells about !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Today that’s great for a sporty car but only enough to be even with moribund Lincoln and just a bit more than the number of trucks Ford sells in a month , to say nothing of the various full-size SUVs and crossovers that are where the non-truck market is at.

To summarize, Mustang stands for the things that Ford needs it EVs to stand for. It needs existentially for EVs to be a success. And last, offending current Mustang owners isn’t that big of a deal because there just aren’t that many relative to the size of the auto market. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

Ten years ago, Tesla put batteries in a Lotus Elise chassis and made the pure EV Roadster. It may not have had great dynamics but it could !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! an Elise at autocross. The holy trinity of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! proved sports cars could be hybrids. The BWM i8 and Acura NSX followed the same formula though to mixed reviews. The Corvette C8 has plenty of room for batteries in its front trunk, at some point a hybrid is possible while a manual may not be. The Porsche 911 may have a pure EV variant coming. Reviews of the Taycan are not out yet but all indications say !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The combination of improved fuel economy and low end torque will make at least partial (hybrid) electrification irresistible for the Mustang. And while we are discussing the inevitable march of progress, Mustangs have embraced supercharging for its high end models and turbos for the low end models. The purity of the naturally aspirated V8 went the way of the Coronet a long time even I don’t know when the Coronet went.

Ok, you say, but this isn’t just about electrification. The Mach-E is a damned crossover, a thing the normies love just so they can sit higher and a higher center of gravity ruins driving dynamics. This is true for internal combustion cars, but a crossover EV like the Tesla Model X with its light motors and heavy batteries in the floor has a lower center of gravity than many sports cars. I believe I heard a reviewer say that driving a Model X felt like driving a Porsche Panamera while sitting on a phonebook. He was higher but it felt like a sedan.

Now here comes the part where I put on my flame suit. These new Mach-E may not share much mechanically with the legacy Mustang but the public will look at them similarly and the Mustang brand will carry weight with them. To some enthusiasts this may seem wrong but, in fact, Ford and the public are right.

A few weeks ago friend said on Facebook that he wanted something sporty: Nothing real fast just a car that could go 0-60 under 5 seconds and carry the kids. He was thinking of something like Kia Stinger GT or Porsche Macan. It has taken me half century to learn that in certain situations I should hold my tongue. My car tastes make me a freak. If it’s got no stick, don’t care. Normals cannot understand why anyone would daily drive a Honda almost 20 years old unless they had to. I do so by choice. First, under 5 to 60 is fast—to me at least. That was an E46 M3. Today its not that fast and to the public straight line speed is a crucial ingredient for their recipe for sports car. For me, a sports car is about being nimble before having a fast 0-60. The Stinger and Macan are too big for my definition of sport. Also for me, having engagement with the transmission, preferably manual, but if not with a quick shifting dual clutch in distant second. Steering should feel accurate and engaging. These are the definitions of sportiness, to me anyway. So the public may not have a great understanding of what makes a sports car or maybe they just have a different definition but they aren’t wrong to believe that these new EVs will be like the Mustang or sporty in the ways the Mustang is. Ford knows how to make a sports car. The made some of the best sports cars of the last five years: Ford GT, Fiesta ST, Focus ST, and Focus RS. They know how to make a Mustang sporty and they hand it to a group which changes just about everything including engine, transmission, suspension, brakes, wheels, and tires. And they make lots of chassis changes too. Those Mustangs earn the Shelby brand.

The Mustangs from the GT on down have a lot more in common with these crossovers and Kia Stingers. Granted, the Mustangs look great which is another aspect of “sporty” to most of the public. They’re fast going straight and yet...the steering is uncommunicative and inaccurate. Here’s Jason Fenske of Engineering Explained showing !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . When the current generation Mustang came out, I had seen a lot of reviews gushing about the new independent rear suspension. I remember seeing Mr. Fenske’s review in 2015 and feeling reassured that I wasn’t crazy. By the standards of sports cars, it sucks. (In the video he says it handles well despite the issues. I hope I don’t offend Mr. Fenske when I say he is polite. Here he does !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and again has some measured praise for the Mustang but makes clear his preference.)

The lack of connectedness doesn’t stop with the steering. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . According to reviews the manual trans is a cheap Chinese thing with terrible shifter feel. The four cylinder makes good power and is thriftier on gas but has considerable turbo lag. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . I’ll give it that. Its outshined by the Shelby’s high revving Voodoo but there may not be a better engine in a car that costs the as little as a Mustang GT. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

I have not owned a Mustang but I’ve rented them at least a half a dozen times in coupe and convertible forms and with the 4-, 6-, and 8-cylinder engines. Top down they make for lovely cruisers. The seats are like La-Z-Boys and hopefully your rental is spec’d with heated and ventilated ones. I’m now spoiled. If you don’t like convertibles you probably haven’t driven one through through the Blue Ridge Parkway in the summer. The ‘Stang has a special place in my heart. My wife and I rented one when we went to Virginia to get married.

They look stunning, best looking car on the market I think. I received more thumbs up and “nice car, man” in those four days than I have in any other car. I believe that was a four cylinder and it had some scoot despite its small displacement and near two-ton weight. What it did not have, emphatically, was any sense of sportiness in the curves. I have tried in vain to make Mustangs canyon carvers from the Blue Ridge mountains to the Big Island of Hawaii and points in between. Cinderella’s carriage turns to a pumpkin at midnight. At the sight of a turn, the pony turns into to a pig.

As I said above Ford knows how to make sports cars and they know how to make Mustangs into sports cars. They choose not to. For the same price they could make a Camaro if they wanted but they don’t. They could give the GT the good Tremec transmission that’s in the Camaro SS. It is a choice and they know what they are doing. They put styling and engines and comfort above sport and feel and they are outselling Chevy year in and year out despite having the older platform.

The Mustang Mach-E will be comfortable, straightline fast and they look, for crossovers, pretty great. The Mustang is Ford’s best design language and they translated it well. It will take some getting used to but pictures of the Mach-E look like the work of designer !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , who delightfully turns your favorite sports cars in !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

To angry Mustang fans I say a few things. This is like when Porsche introduced the Cayenne, upsetting 911 fans. Admittedly the analogy is a little off, Porsche didn’t call the new SUV a 911 Mach-E. Then again, the current Mustang is going to drive a lot more like the Mach-E than the 911 did like the Cayenne. Just the same, by any name the 911 went on, even if it was cooled by water. For at least a decade or longer, Ford will continue to make internal combustion Mustangs.

Also to the Mustang fans I say, take solace. Even if the honchos in Detroit don’t care much about internal combustion Mustangs, there are hundreds of people at Ford developing Mustangs and they care a lot. Be grateful especially for the team making the Shelby’s. And be grateful that Mustangs as you know it is still in production. Imagine being an S2000 fan which lived one glorious generation, never to return. Today Honda could be mid-cycle through the third generation S2000 and if they want to call electric crossovers S2000's so that I could still get an improved roadster, then that’s a trade I would make right now. The Mustang Mach-E name might be crass. It might dilute the brand. Or it might be right on the money. At least the Mustang is going strong enough to be exploited.

Personally I don’t care if Ford discontinues the internal combustion Mustang as long they still make a convertible I can rent.

jimz > Michael Cohen 11/20/2019 at 14:37

3

“We will use the name you have cherished for more than half a century on a product that to you is anathema to all you hold automotively dear.”

“But, since we know you’d never buy one regardless of what we called it, it doesn’t hurt us in the slightest.”

simply put, the people complaining about the name don’t matter.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > Michael Cohen 11/20/2019 at 14:37

7

Well, you’re wrong

For Sweden > Michael Cohen 11/20/2019 at 14:39

4

Counterpoint:

No

someassemblyrequired > Michael Cohen 11/20/2019 at 14:39

10

Not calling it the Mustang III is possibly the biggest missed trolling opportunity ever.

Tapas > Michael Cohen 11/20/2019 at 14:48

0

Let’s just hope this stops here.

I don’t want to live in a world where we have the Camaro Lightening and a Dodge Challenger S uper C apacitor.

WilliamsSW > Michael Cohen 11/20/2019 at 14:50

2

Should have given it a more proper name.

Edsel. 

Derpwagon > Michael Cohen 11/20/2019 at 14:50

2

tl/dr but no.

Ash78, voting early and often > someassemblyrequired 11/20/2019 at 14:51

4

Just like they missed Bronco III.

Michael Cohen > jimz 11/20/2019 at 14:52

0

[ whispers]  the people complaining and the people who buy Mustangs now are overlapping groups but not all the same. The buyers include rental car companies and end users who just want a fast, comfy cruiser they can daily  that looks great. The describes the GT and Mach-E alike. 

Danimalk - Drives a Slow Car Fast > Michael Cohen 11/20/2019 at 14:54

2

“Hey guys, check out my awesome new Mustang!!”

“M y mom drives one of those. She loves how quie t it is. ”

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Michael Cohen 11/20/2019 at 14:57

0

Things didn’t work out so great last time Ford attached an established brand to a crossover:

Textured Soy Protein > Michael Cohen 11/20/2019 at 14:59

2

We should figure out some way to measure whether more jimmies were rustled by the Supra being a BMW or the Mach-E being a “Mustang.”

I, for one, am fine wit h it being a Mustang Mach-E, for the same reason that I’m fine that both of these cars are Nissan Skylines.

RallyWrench > someassemblyrequired 11/20/2019 at 14:59

4

Then we could call it the M3 to troll BMW even harder.

Michael Cohen > someassemblyrequired 11/20/2019 at 15:23

1

jacknicholsonnodding.gif

Michael Cohen > RallyWrench 11/20/2019 at 15:23

1

I don’t know if Mustang or BMW fans would be trolled harder but I know it would be glorious. 

Michael Cohen > Derpwagon 11/20/2019 at 15:26

0

I hear tl a lot. 

Derpwagon > Michael Cohen 11/20/2019 at 15:28

1

heh.

CobraJoe > Michael Cohen 11/20/2019 at 15:30

0

“But what about Mustang? Isn’t Ford risking that?” Yes, the are. So what? The Mustang has loyal fans .

Rhetorical question for you: Why is the Mustang so popular? How did it become the literal poster car for Ford?

Because it successfully combined several traits: It is beautiful enough to make people want it for it’s looks alone, it is affordable enough that anyone could own one , it is functional enough that it could serve as a person’s only car, and it is fun enough to make you forget about the difficulties of living with a coupe.

The MachE has maybe two of those traits. It isn’t any prettier than any other “sporty CUV”, and it’s nearly an Ecosport more expensive than a base Mustang.

Therefore, the MachE should not be a Mustang. It sounds like a pretty good vehicle on it’s own merit , but it just doesn’t follow the same formula.

It might dilute the brand. Or it might be right on the money. At least the Mustang is going strong enough to be exploited.

I’m not so sure. For the next 6 months to a year? Sure, it’ll probably boost the sales a bit due to all the talk.

What happens after 2 years? After 5 years? After 10 years? What “brilliant” new CEO is going to want to reduce costs by cutting the “poorly selling” Mustang Coupe? What strategist is going to recommend turning the existing Mustang into a Crossover to match it’s better selling cousin? How many clueless buyers are going to get the “4 Door Mustang” because “It’s basically the same thing as the coupe” or avoid the coupe because “the 4 door wasn’t that interesting ”?

The Mustang Mach-E name might be crass.

This is perhaps the worst thing about it.

Why is it named after a historic performance model? It’s a model that should be looking forward, not using a name that was somewhat recently used on a retro themed performance pack. It’s not even any closer to the “speed of sound” that the ‘04 Mach 1 could achieve 15 years ago.

Besides, those who know what the name once meant are not going to be impressed by an EV crossover, and those who don’t know wouldn’t care if it’s called something completely nonsensical.

And why did they have to bastardize the name of my favorite version too? I guess this means we’ll never see the return of the shaker scoop on the Mustang.

CobraJoe > jimz 11/20/2019 at 15:33

1

“But, since we know you’d never buy one regardless of what we called it, it doesn’t hurt us in the slightest.”

simply put, the people complaining about the name don’t matter.

And here I was, saving my pennies and hoping that Ford would make another Mach 1 retro performance pack for the Mustang.

Seriously though, I lost all interest in owning a new Mustang, and I’m probably going to buy something fun next year.  

CobraJoe > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 11/20/2019 at 15:35

0

Things didn’t work out so great last time Ford attached an established brand to a crossover:

And that name even made sense!

Michael Cohen > CobraJoe 11/20/2019 at 15:42

0

I appreciate that you read a way too long ass article!

M ustang is popular for a sporty car. It’s less than 5% of vehicles Ford sells. It’s not “popular” like the F-series. In mid 60s they could sell half a millions Stangs a year. That’s gone. They need To make EVs a success to survive and naming them Mustangs helps a little. Even if the Mach-E fails I don’t think it stops people who really want ICE Mustangs from buying them.

I think the success of the Mustang as a rental shows that normies do care about the name. There are other convertibles the rental car companies could choose.  The ecoboost automatic isn’t much of sports car but people get one because it looks cool. Taken on its own terms, a cruiser, it’s fine. The crossovers will probably be too.

jimz > CobraJoe 11/20/2019 at 15:54

1

If the existence of this thing made you not want to buy a regular Mustang, then I’m sorry to say that you are being entirely unreasonable.  It’s your right, of course, but it’s still silly. 

someassemblyrequired > RallyWrench 11/20/2019 at 16:01

0

M3 Gran Coupe

CobraJoe > jimz 11/20/2019 at 16:13

0

If the existence of this thing made you not want to buy a regular Mustang, then I’m sorry to say that you are being entirely unreasonable. It’s your right, of course, but it’s still silly.

There’s a couple of reasons that I can point out, both might be unreasonable...

The MachE makes me question if Ford really knows what they’re doing, if they can’t market a new car on it’s own merit, does that mean they’re coasting on reputation?

It also kind of makes the Mustang feel less special.  

jimz > CobraJoe 11/20/2019 at 16:17

0

whatever man.    

CobraJoe > Michael Cohen 11/20/2019 at 16:19

1

Well... I might have skimmed a few parts of it... It’s annoyingly difficult for me to read praise of the MachE. (Seriously, I was holding on to hope that the Mach 1 wasn’t dead yet.)

Mustang is popular for a sporty car. It’s less than 5% of vehicles Ford sells. It’s not “popular” like the F-series. In mid 60s they could sell half a millions Stangs a year. That’s gone.

The Mustang is not the same car it was in the mid 60s. Back then, it was possible to use one as a family car. Today, safety standards have changed (bigger car seats, etc) , but the Mustang has also changed into a performance focused “almost 2 seater”. That’s a fairly recent phenomenon, the push for a fastback profile kills the back seat head room.

(I’ve been calling out the Mustang’s lack of utility for a while now.)

They need To make EVs a success to survive and naming them Mustangs helps a little.

I don’t disagree, but is it worth endangering (or at least altering the image of) the brand that has been an effective halo car for the company for the past 50 years?

I think the success of the Mustang as a rental shows that normies do care about the name. There are other convertibles the rental car companies could choose. The ecoboost automatic isn’t much of sports car but people get one because it looks cool. Taken on its own terms, a cruiser, it’s fine. The crossovers will probably be too.

I’m also pretty sure that the name is helping to drive sales, 100k- ish of sales per year is massive for a 2 door anything. The GT-86 twins o r MX-5 only sell about 5-10% of that.

Once you take that name and add it to a model with wider appeal, there might be less desire for the “version that’s harder to live with”. Why get the Mustang when you can get a tall 4 door with the same name and kinda looks similar?

I’m sure that the MachE will gain some sales because of the tie-in , but how many sales is the Mustang going to lose? I will guarantee that both numbers will  be non-zero.

CobraJoe > jimz 11/20/2019 at 16:22

0

Hey, it wouldn’t the first time that Ford has forgotten how to make good cars, and it wouldn’t be the first time that Ford has run a product name into the ground.

Michael Cohen > CobraJoe 11/20/2019 at 16:22

0

I read your post again. You had some questions for me and I want to reply to them:

I think Ford thinks that it has to be expensive to be any good. The Bolt is not selling. The only EV moving any numbers is Tesla. Batteries are getting cheaper fast; it may be five years or a decade but we will get to new Mach-Es at the price of EcoBoost Mustangs. That may be a good thing. In 2029, people are going to say, now I can afford a Mach-E.

I don’t want to repeat too much of what I said in the article but to a lot of normies the power plant isn’t really all that interesting compared to how it looks, drives, etc.

CobraJoe > Michael Cohen 11/20/2019 at 16:31

1

I think Ford thinks that it has to be expensive to be any good. The Bolt is not selling. The only EV moving any numbers is Tesla. Batteries are getting cheaper fast; it may be five years or a decade but we will get to new Mach-Es at the price of EcoBoost Mustangs. That may be a good thing. In 2029, people are going to say, now I can afford a Mach-E.

Then brand it as a Mustang in 2029 when it is affordable. The Mustang was not Ford’s first performance car. The Flathead Model A, the ‘49-50 Shoebox, the Thunderbird... Heck, the Thunderbird was a 300hp big block powered 2 door sedan by 1964 when the Mustang was introduced.

The Mustang is not special because it made power, it is special because it sold some of the pizzaz and fun of the expensive cars down at economy car prices.  

Sammyno55 > Michael Cohen 11/20/2019 at 16:38

0

When I was younger, I worked on various machinery on   my Great-grandfather’s farm. He always ca lled every engine speed cntrol device an accelerator. I think the long skinny pedal on the right can always be called the accelerator pedal. No matter if you are driving a gasoline powered car or a diesel tractor. Accelerator knobs, sliders and thumb triggers are also all accelerators.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > WilliamsSW 11/20/2019 at 17:06

2

Savage

nermal > Michael Cohen 11/20/2019 at 17:08

0

I find it amusing that this car is launching alongside the best Mustang ever made in the traditional sense (GT350) . 

That said, I think that in hindsight it will be seen much like the 4cyl Mustangs of the 80s - Sounded like a good idea at the time, but nobody really liked it.

Michael Cohen > jimz 11/20/2019 at 17:54

0

You said it better than I did. No one: I was going to be a GT but some crossover shares the name  not just Ford but Mustang so now I won’t.

camarov6rs > Michael Cohen 11/20/2019 at 18:05

0

What I want to know is why put the pony on it? Why not use the Mustang heritage and call it “inspired by”, “based on”, “themed after”. I think most people would agree that the name “Mach-E” is appropriately electric car enough and mustang enough by itself. If Ford has just left off the Mustang from the name I think they would have accomplished what you are saying. Enthusiasts would see past all the “connections” and find a very good first shot at a aspirational EV. Then normal people will be drawn in by all the marketing and find the same thing.

From a sales perspective the Mustang numbers are probably inconsequential. If they lose some sales out of hate for the new car what does Ford care. If they lose some coup sales to the EV even better because transaction prices for the EV are bound to be MUCH higher. I think the electric F-150 is a much bigger risk. If Ford does it wrong and they alienate their most loyal, most profitable customers they are in for a hurt.