WHEN I LEARN that Ford called its all-electric crossover Mustang Mach-E, I rolled my eyes and pulled the skeptical emoji face. Ladies and gentlemen of Dearborn, please. Can’t we hit the road of foggy pony car nostalgia again? Should we believe in this weird non sequitur? For 56 years, the nameplate refers to two-door coupes and convertibles; now, for no particular good reason I can see, it also indicates a mid-sized electric four-door hatchback – oh sorry, fastback. They might as well have called it a Cobra, or Crown Victoria, or the Barney Oldfield 999 Special.
Ford’s technical executives attended press conference calls this fall in support of the company’s first electric electric vehicle, which will be built in Mexico and is expected to have global sales in the first year of approximately 50,000. They explained how, late in the design phase, Vice President Jim Farley (now CEO) sent the team back to the drawing boards with instructions to make the then unnamed project more Mustang-esque – more raked windshield, faster hatch, black out the C-pillar – until finally someone suggested calling it just a Mustang.
Really? This high-seated four-door hatchback with the father’s body shouted Mustang to management? That’s … surprising. Ford executives are repeating this story as if it were not a parable of creative laziness.
Not to be a bummer. Some of the Mustang-themed features are charming: the three-bar taillights; the illuminated galloping mustang logo in the nose (GT trim and above). The three riding modes are ‘Whisper’, ‘Engage’ and ‘Unbridled’. Oh honey! The latter mode corresponds to a typical sports mode, making the throttle response sharper and the steering feel heavier. The rampant mode also allows some value of wheelspin on both the front and rear axles, so you can hang around a bit … sorry.
Idiomatic note: In cars in the UK market, the sports mode is called Untamed. Grrr. Not a word about the covering of torn bodice.