Ford Mustang Mach-E makes European debut

Ford’s Mustang Mach-E has made its European public debut, heralding the company’s plans for a move towards electrification of its entire range, with either pure-EV or hybrid models.

The Ford Mustang Mach-E goes on sale later this year

The all-electric SUV has gone on display in London as part of Ford’s Go Electric experience which aims to educate the public on the various electrified options available to them, both pure EV and hybrids.

Based on a new scalable battery electric platform, the Mustang Mach-E goes on sale later this year with a selection of battery and drivetrain options. Prices are still to be confirmed but are expected to start at around £40,000.

Entry level cars will come with a 75kWh battery and rear-wheel drive, offering around 280 miles of range. A larger extended range 99kWh battery increases that to 370 miles on the WLTP cycle and both battery options will also be available with four-wheel-drive. In extended range, all-wheel-drive setup, Ford says the Mach-e will have 333bhp and 414lb/ft. Shortly after launch a high-performance Mustang Mach-E GT will join the line-up with 458bhp, 612lb/ft and a sub-five second 0-62mph time.

The Mustang Mach-E is a coupe-inspired SUV

Physically the Mustang Mach-E is a similar size to the Jaguar I-Pace and like that it’s been designed to be an SUV that doesn’t look too much like an SUV. Apart from its blunt front end, the Mustang Mach-E is going for a coupe-style silhouette with a relatively low ride height and roofline. Styling nods such as the bonnet lines and creases plus the Mustang’s trademark tri-bar tail lights are deliberate efforts to maintain some family resemblance but this is quite clearly a different beast, with four doors, decent space inside for four adults and a 400-litre boot.

Of course, being a “futuristic” EV the Mach-E has some unusual touches. The doors are opened by tiny buttons on the pillars and there’s a touch-sensitive keypad hidden on the driver’s B pillar for entering an unlock code. Inside, the driver gets a simple 10.2-inch digital instrument display while virtually all the vehicle’s functions are controlled via a 15.5-inch portrait touchscreen. This also houses the new Sync4 infotainment system which Ford says will learn your habits and adapt to them with navigation and communication suggestions.

The Mach-E was developed at a standalone facility in Detroit but its suspension and drive-related electronics have since been tuned by Ford’s European chassis dynamics team to suit European roads and driving styles.

Members of the press were allowed a brief passenger ride in a prototype car. A short drive around the centre of London isn’t enough to tell a lot about the car but Ford says the Mach-E has been developed to be sporty but comfortable. Certainly, it did a decent job of smoothing out the worst of Marylebone’s ratty surfaces. And a brief drag-strip blast in a top-secret underground bunker (a car park in Marble Arch) proved that the the Blue Oval’s first EV has plenty of pace thanks to all 414lb/ft of torque being slapped onto the tarmac instantly by all four wheels.

Almost all the Mustang Mach-E's functions are controlled via a 15.5-inch central touchscreen

While the Mustang Mach-E is front and centre of the Go Electric Ford is putting huge amounts of effort into promoting its existing and incoming range of hybrid models.

By the end of this year Ford will have 14 electrified models on sale across Europe, with four more slated for 2021. By 2022 the brand expects that half of all new models it sells will be electrified.

Its hybrid line-up is scheduled to include everything from mild hybrid Fiestas to a fully-electric Transit van. The soon-to-be-released Kuga the first in the line-up to come in mild, plug-in and full self-charging hybrid formats, with emissions as low as 26g/km and 235mpg from the plug-in variant.

The Fiesta will be joined by mild hybrid versions of the Puma; Focus; Kuga, Transit Custom; Tourneo Custom and Transit. All 48V hybrids will use an integrated starter generator to supplement the engine’s torque under heavy demand, with energy harvested from braking and the engine under coasting.

Ford says the Mach-E retains the spirit of the Mustang

Self-charging full hybrid versions of the Mondeo, Kuga, S-Max and Galaxy Hybrid will use a 2.5-litre petrol engine matched to a single electric motor. These will offer short electric-only range, supplementing the engine at other times.

For greater all-electric range, plug-in hybrid versions of the Kuga, Transit Custom and Tourneo Custom will pair larger battery capacity, electric motor drive and the same 2.5-litre petrol engine as the self-chargers.