Ford has just announced at the Detroit motor show that it plans to release an all-electric performance SUV in 2020.
All we know so far is that the car is called Mach 1 – a name that traditionally identified performance versions of the Ford Mustang. Beyond that, Ford has remained tight-lipped on further specs. In fact, we don’t even know what it looks like.
In its teaser video (see below), a Mustang and Explorer are both driven into the same building. A large bolt of lightning hits the building causing some kind of reaction within. The resulting vehicle, the Mach 1, is then represented by a jet of colourful driving away at speed, but it’s never fully unveiled.
The announcement comes as Ford also revealed it plans to invest $11bn into electric vehicles and will have a fleet of 40 hybrid or electric cars amongst its lineup by 2022. Of the 40 electrified vehicles, 16 will be fully electric while the rest will be plug-in hybrids.
“We’re all in on this and we’re taking our mainstream vehicles, our most iconic vehicles, and we’re electrifying them,” company chairman Bill Ford said. “If we want to be successful with electrification, we have to do it with vehicles that are already popular.”
At the NAIAS 2018 motor show, the company also revealed the new Mustang Bullitt, released to coincide with the 50th Anniversary of Steve McQueen’s classic film Bullitt, and an all-new Ford Edge ST – Ford’s first SUV to be tuned by the Ford Performance team.
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The new Mustang, which comes out this summer in the US, might lack the stripes of the Mustang GT, but it comes with an upgraded 5.0-litre V8 engine that will deliver at least 475 horsepower and a top speed of a top speed of 163 mph.
Meanwhile, the all-new Edge ST features the most powerful V6 engine available in its class, a specially tuned 2.7-litre twin-turbocharged EcoBoost engine that delivers 335 horsepower. It also features an 8-speed automatic gearbox.
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It’s not clear whether the Mustang Bullitt will eventually be released in the UK, but Ford explicitly says that the new Edge ST is offered only for Ford customers in the U.S.
The news about Ford’s Mach 1 is certainly welcome, because it means Tesla will no longer be the company with a full-electric performance SUV. However, considering the recent surge in interest in electric vehicles, it’s more than likely there will be other big players in this market by 2020.
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