What's the news?
Ford has released an image showing the rear-end of an in-development "Mustang-inspired utility vehicle", which is to be the company's first blank-slate electric vehicle. The car, dubbed the Mach 1, which from the designation and the image seems to be some kind of coupé-crossover, is also the first effort from Ford Team Edison, a group within the Ford company tasked with developing EVs from the ground up. The picture shows the back end of a vehicle with Mustang tail-lights and, judging by its rear haunches, a higher ride-height than the company's existing coupé.
Ford Team Edison's charge (no pun intended) is to develop Ford's new electric vehicle platform as the company scrambles to restructure its line-up. It's been a topsy-turvy few years for Ford with high fuel prices driving Americans towards smaller cars like the Fiesta and Fusion (that's the Mondeo to us) before a fall in prices started to drive buyers back towards SUVs. As a result, the company announced that it is axing the Fiesta, Fusion and Taurus models from its US range by 2020 making the Mustang the only car (as opposed to SUV or pickup) in Ford's American line-up and reducing the number of global Ford platforms from the current eleven down to five.
Anything else?
The Mach 1 will be the first vehicle built on the newly-developed EV platform and is planned to arrive in 2020 with a range of around 480km. It isn't, however, the only electric vehicle in Ford's pipeline. There's an electric crossover on the way based on Focus underpinnings and, according to Darren Palmer, the Global Product Development Director at Ford Team Edison: "My team and I are both proud of and energized by the company's $11 billion investment to bring 16 fully electric vehicles within a global portfolio of 40 electrified vehicles through 2022."