Cars and Drivers

Ford's Massive Home Run With Mustang Mach-E

Paul Ausick

Published: December 16, 2020 12:51 pm

For a vehicle that has yet to be delivered to a single customer, the Mustang Mach-E from Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) made some noise Wednesday. Auto industry news and data service Edmunds.com named the electric vehicle (EV) its top-rated luxury EV for 2021.

Last December, Ford said it planned to manufacture 50,000 of the Mach-E sport utility vehicles in the first 12 months of production. First delivery of the new EVs will begin next month, with the premium-priced ($61,000) First Edition models. The basic Select Mach-E carries a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $43,895 and is expected to arrive in early 2021. Other models include a Premium edition, a California Route 1 and a GT version ranging in price from around $52,000 to $60,500 and all expected to be available later in 2021.

To nab the award, the Mustang Mach-E had to beat some pretty stiff competition. The luxury EV category (list price greater than $40,000) included the Audi e-tron (starting MSRP of $65,900), the Volvo/Polestar 2 (MSRP of $59,900), the Tesla Model Y (MSRP $49,900), Volvo’s XC40 Recharge (MSRP of $53,990) and Volkswagen’s ID.4 (MSRP of $41,190).

In its comments on the Mustang Mach-E, Edmunds noted that the vehicle “isn’t an electrified version of Ford’s classic pony car. Instead, this is a midsize SUV that emulates the two-door coupe’s signature athleticism in a more family-friendly package.” Edmunds also commented that the luxury component of Ford’s winner played a role in its win with “upscale interior materials and [an] attractive central touchscreen, which is more user-friendly than what you’ll find in other luxury EVs.”

On top of all that, the Mustang Mach-E sports a driving range of up to 300 miles, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s official estimate for a two-wheel-drive version with the extended-range battery option. The extended-range battery with all-wheel drive has a range of 270 miles, while the standard-range battery delivers 230 miles of range to a two-wheel-drive model and 211 miles to the all-wheel-drive model. Those are the specs that Ford had targeted when it announced the Mach-E.

Ford also won Edmunds.com’s top-rating for its model year 2021 F-150 pickup. Far more important to the company than an award-winning EV, the fully redesigned F-150 carries a starting MSRP of $28,940, and the price can go way up from there. The top price for a 2021 F-150 is around $76,000. Through November, Ford has sold more than 713,000 F-Series pickups this year, more than 10 times the number of Mustangs sold in the same period.

The Mustang Mach-E is Ford’s first vehicle to be designed from the ground up as an EV. There is no gasoline-powered or hybrid version. The company has an all-electric version of its F-150 on the drawing board for release in 2022. By the end of that year, Ford has said it plans to launch 40 models with some level of electrification.

Ford stock traded down about 1% in the noon hour Wednesday, at $9.06 in a 52-week range of $3.96 to $9.57. The stock’s consensus price target is $8.94.