Mustang Electric SUV To Arrive In 2020 As Ford Confirms EV Investment

Ford Motor Company took a dig at Tesla Inc. by teasing the prospect of an all-electric version of its classic Mustang muscle car during Tesla’s Model Y all-electric crossover SUV launch on March 14.

A Ford exec admitted the company timed this tease with the Tesla Model Y launch to hint at “big things” to come in their own electric vehicle (EV) program over the coming months. We forget Ford was one of the first major car makers to go electric starting with plug-ins and hybrids.

It's now moving into Tesla's space with the all-electric Mustang, which will be a full "battery electric vehicle" (BEV), like the Tesla Model 3 and Y.

“Hold your horses,” Ford tweeted only minutes after Tesla’s webcast on March 14 unveiling the Model Y SUV. The tweet featured a blue version of the iconic Mustang logo on a black background.

This was a clear reference to a terse announcement Ford made at the 2018 North American International Auto Show in Detroit held from Jan. 13 to 28. Ford hinted it was working on a project codenamed Mach 1.

President of Global Operations Joe Hinrichs now says Ford is moving quickly toward producing what it keeps describing as a “Mustang-inspired” all-electric SUV. He revealed this Mustang-inspired all-electric SUV will be in showrooms by 2020, or about the same time Tesla begins to deliver its first Model Ys.

Analysts said a Mustang-based all-electric SUV will represent a historic major shift for Ford away from the combustion engine machines that made it a household name worldwide for over a century.

The production version of the Mustang BEV will definitely be a crossover, and not a coupe, according to insiders. The decision to go with an SUV instead of a battery-powered sedan like the Ford Focus Electric reflects an undeniable market shift from sedans and coupes to SUVs and CUVs. The Mustang BEV will also be Ford’s first long-range model like the Teslas.

Analysts noted that Ford’s harping on this new SUV’s link to the Mustang acknowledges Ford will place as much emphasis on performance as it will on the SUV’s environment friendliness.

Ford has already set aside resources to build the Mustang BEV. It intends to invest more than $850 million to add more production capacity at a second U.S. factory for its next-generation BEVs, including the Mustang BEV, over a period of five years. The investment also includes funding to build the next-generation Mustang.