√Ford Mustang Mach-E production passes 150,000 cars

Ford has built its 150,000th Mustang Mach-E electric SUV since production began two years ago – but Australian deliveries aren’t understood to begin for another 18 months.

Production of the Ford Mustang Mach-E electric SUV is ramping up, and has passed 150,000 vehicles – but it is not due in Australia until 2024, Drive understands.

Ford says the 150,000-vehicle milestone – achieved across two factories, in Mexico and China, over the course of two years – precedes a goal to reach an annual Mustang Mach-E production target of 270,000 in the coming years.

The company aims to produce 600,000 electric vehicles globally per year by the end of 2023, and two million by 2026.

The Mustang Mach-E will expand its reach to 37 countries next year – up from 22 in the car’s first year on sale, over 2020-21 – including New Zealand.

But Drive understands an Australian launch is not due until 2024 – as one of five hybrid or electric Ford models due in local showrooms before the end of 2024.

It will join the full-size E-Transit and mid-size E-Transit Custom electric vans, the Escape plug-in hybrid medium SUV, and what is expected to be a plug-in hybrid version of the new Ranger ute, due in late 2023, or in 2024.

Ford is yet to lock in the Mustang Mach-E for Australian showrooms – however it has been referred to as a ‘global model’ for the company, is factory-built in right-hand drive for the UK and New Zealand, and sources say it is odds-on for local sale.

At a preview drive of the Mustang Mach-E in Detroit in September, engineering supervisor for the model, Leeway Ho, told Drive: “Our role in product development is to do our due diligence and make sure it’s not just paperwork.

“It’s that we’re meeting all of the local regulation requirements and we’re making sure that the vehicle itself functions the way that we want it to function when it’s out on Australian roads.

“For instance, the navigation system right now in current production, it only has North American maps and European maps depending upon where the car goes.

“We want to make sure that we’re not just sending a car where all we did was change a window sticker, we want to make sure the customer gets the comprehensive experience,” said Mr Ho.

“We want to make sure that it delivers upon the customer experience that a customer in Australia would expect from the vehicle.”

According to Ford, 80 per cent of Mustang Mach-E buyers in the US – and 90 per cent in Europe – have bought the car as a replacement for a petrol- or diesel-powered vehicle.

“When we put the pony on this Mustang, we knew we’d have skeptics. What we didn’t quite know then was just how popular this car would become,” Darren Palmer, vice president of Electric Vehicle Programs at Ford Model E – Ford’s electric-car division – said in a media statement.

“I love seeing Mustang Mach-E vehicles on the road and talking to customers, and I am seeing more and more of them.”

Electric-car rival Tesla does not disclose global production numbers for the Mach-E-sized Model Y – instead grouping them with the related Model 3 sedan – however between July and September alone, it built 345,000 of these cars.

Kia has reported less than 100,000 EV6 electric cars as sold globally since launch in mid 2021 – while over a similar period, Hyundai has reported more than 140,000 Ioniq 5s as sold globally.

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