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2022 FORD MUSTANG

Ford’s Mustang is known for its love of hydrocarbons- but not this one. It runs on electricity and is an SUV. So is it really a Mustang?

We’re not sure some will ever forgive Ford for using the Mustang nameplate on an electric vehicle, and an SUV at that. But then we’re pretty sure those are the type that will never buy a car that you plug in either.

The Mach-E is all about leveraging the brand cache of the famous horse badge, as the association is sure to spark people’s attention.

The Mach-E isn’t Ford’s first electric vehicle; that would be, um, yeah, a forgettable Focus, something that wasn’t sold here. Before they dreamed up the Mach-E, Ford’s new EV was to be just another Focus with a better battery.

Not very exciting then, and not something the marketing department could whip up any sort of hype around. While we might have had an electric Focus RS eventually, there’s just not the scope to sell as many five-door hatches as there is to hawk an SUV.

Ford says the “Mach-E embodies the Mustang spirit – from its sleek silhouette and muscular curves to exhilarating drive experiences that offer unique driving dynamics”.

The marrying of sports car styling cues to the SUV form is never an easy task.

We can see the bits they have incorporated: the long bonnet line and the sculptured haunches, the way the glass house slopes away at the rear, and there are the headlights and tri-bar lamps at the back. But does it gel cohesively? At least it’s better looking than a Model Y. Anyway, we’ll leave it to the eye of the beholder. What we can comment on are those unique driving dynamics. But first a few Mach-E details.

Exactly how many Mach-E models ARE there?

Ford NZ has managed to sneak one model in at the allimportant $79,990 mark, so it nets the rebate (now $7,015) and is known simply as the Mach-E RWD. It has a single motor with 198kW/430Nm while the 68kWh (net) battery gives a quoted range of 440km (WLTP).

There’s a decent price jump to the AWD at $109,990 which gets two motors, outputting a total of 258kW and 580Nm, and it will canter to 100km/h a second quicker than the RWD at a claimed 5.1 seconds.

It has a larger 88kWh (net) battery and a potential range of 550 kilometres.

The top GT gets the same battery but with more powerful motors and outputs of 358kW and 860Nm. The Mustang Mach-E GT is said to gallop to 100 in 3.7seconds and can range up to 490 kilometres. It costs $124,990. It’s the GT we have here. More than 60 percent of the models sold so far have been the base RWD variant, with people chasing the rebate. And it’s the one that is by far the best value given it doesn’t miss out on much in the way of specifications.

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