Ford teases electric Mustang on Twitter as Tesla unveiled Model Y

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Jim Farley, Ford Motor Company Executive Vice President and President of Global Markets, reveals the 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT 500 at the 2019 North American International Auto Show during Media preview days on January 14, 2019 in Detroit, Michigan.

Ford was one of the first automakers to start electrifying its line-up, with a mix of hybrids, plug-ins and all-electric vehicles. But the original wave of battery-based models had mixed success. The plug-in and pure battery-electric vehicles, in particular, generated relatively modest demand, critics pointing to their limited range and designs that sacrificed cargo and passenger space to make room for their batteries.

The Mustang-based SUV will mark a major shift for Ford, the automaker migrating to the same sort of skateboard-like platform that Tesla, General Motors and several other manufacturers have adopted. This approach places the batteries, motors and other key drivetrain components below the load floor. That not only lowers a vehicle’s center of gravity and enhances handling, but it means the engine compartment can be radically shrunk in size, increasing space for passengers and cargo.

The production version of the Mach 1 will be a crossover, rather than a coupe. The decision to go with a sport-utility vehicle body, instead of another battery-powered sedan, such as the current Ford Focus Electric, reflects the broader shift in the market from sedans and coupes to SUVs and CUVs. Ford is by no means alone. The all-electric Jaguar I-Pace is one of the brand’s three utility vehicles. The upcoming battery-electric Audi and Mercedes-Benz models will also be SUVs.

Critically, Ford’s upcoming battery-electric vehicle, or BEV, will be its first long-range model. But the fact that it’s being so closely linked to the Mustang reveals that the automaker will be putting as much emphasis on performance as it will on the vehicle’s environmental benefits.

“Selling electrification on just fuel efficiency is not going to pay out when gas is going for $2.50 a gallon,” Ford Executive Vice President Hau Thai-Tang, said during a briefing at Detroit’s Cobo Hall convention center last year.

While the first generation of battery cars tended to be slow and often ponderous when it comes to driving dynamics, manufacturers have begun putting more of a premium on performance. That’s because electric motors, given enough current, produce gobs of instant, wheel-spinning torque. The Tesla Model S with optional Ludicrous Mode can hit 60 mph in a mere 2.3 seconds and the planned performance version of the Model Y will get there in just 3.5 seconds – about 40 percent faster than a similarly sized Porsche Macan SUV. Ford is widely expected to target similar numbers.