Thursday, April 7, 2022

Ford's 2021 Non-Mustang Mustang Mach-E

This is a Ford Mustang.  The original 1964 1/2 model.

This too is a Mustang, 2015 model year.

This is not what I would call a Mustang.  But officially, it's a 2021 Mustang Mach-E, a battery-powered SUV.

I saw my first one 20 March 2022.  Didn't know what it was at first because any nameplate it might have had was either obscure or missing entirely.  I did see outlines of Ford Mustang ponies here and there, finally realizing that this car was one of those electric Mustangs that I had read about months before.

What were Ford's marketing people thinking?  My guess is that since the Mach-E and its GT variant were performance-oriented electric cars, why not slap Ford's performance-oriented Mustang brand name on it to make things clear to potential buyers.

Regardless, I believe a price was paid.  Brand-extensions (putting a brand name on increasingly diverse products) eventually cheapen the value of a brand.  An electric SUV, despite its capabilities, is not a sporty gasoline-powered coupe or convertible.  Short of being a pickup truck, it's about as far from the traditional Mustang image as a marketer could get.

Below are some Ford publicity images of the 2021 Mustang Mach-E GT.

Gallery

Lacking a conventional motor, the hood is low.

The profile is curved towards the rear in the manner of upscale SUVs from the likes of Jaguar and Alfa Romeo rather than a more conventional SUV station wagon- like aft area.

Most of the design contains the usual over-done, rather themeless metal sculpting.  The three vertical elements on each taillight assembly do harken the traditional Mustang taillight theme.  Which is about as Mustang-like as the Mach-E gets.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

They couldn't even name it the Ed-Cell?

Anonymous said...

Love the ed-cell comment.

The car industry is killing the car with boring blobs like this.

emjayay said...

Totally agree. I've seen both the highly touted current Mustang and the Mach-E outside and up close. They are both kind of bad to my eyes. The original Mustang, despite a lot of design compromises for cost, has a tautness and elegance that both of these lack. If anything they are referencing to some degree a fastback fatter and larger next model Mustang. Over at GM the current Corvette and Camaro are worse. All these cars are boy racer posers.

I'm not at all putting a pox on all modern/older car model referencing designs. Anyway, if they sell they did their job.