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FORTUNE.COM // DECEMBER 2019
F
OR MORE than a century,
Ford Motor Co. has
manufactured many
millions of vehicles
with names like Model T, Falcon,
Fairlane, Thunderbird, Taurus,
Fusion, and F-150. But ask anyone
which brand stands apart from
the rest, and you’ll get the same
answer: Mustang.
Since its introduction at the
1964 New York World’s Fair, the
sporty Mustang—affordable,
powerful, as impractical (up to 760
horsepower!) as it is practical (it
has a back seat!)—has developed
into a pulse-quickening symbol
of America’s particular obses-
sion with the open road. Indeed,
when the titular character in this
year’s hit film Captain Marvel
experiences a flashback to her
younger days as a military pilot,
she’s pictured outside the hangar
beside her candy-apple-red, first-
generation Ford Mustang.
But symbols don’t necessarily
lead to sales, and the ’Stang—a
two-door sports car in an age of
four-door crossovers, a gasoline
burner at the dawn of an electric
age—has lately claimed more in
the way of reputation than rev-
enue. In the first nine months of
2019, Ford sold 55,365 Mustangs
in the U.S., the model’s largest
market. That’s down 10% from the
same period last year, and about as
many Mustangs sold in three quar-
ters as Ford sells F-Series trucks in
three weeks.
Still, the Mustang remains the
world’s bestselling sports coupe,
and 10 million have sold since the
first one rolled off the production
line. So what do you do when the
world isn’t terribly interested in
buying sports coupes?
Enter the Mustang Mach-E, a
gamble so great for the world’s
sixth-largest automaker that the
galloping horse on the vehicle’s
grille is one of the few things in
common with its predecessor.
The Mustang’s slinky silhouette—
long hood, short rear deck—has
been altered to accommodate the
bulbous curves of a four-door,
albeit still rear-wheel-drive, util-
ity vehicle. Its signature snarl,
courtesy of the internal combus-
tion engine, has been replacedmaker Tesla’s popular Model 3
sedan. Its range is approximately
300 miles, also on par with the
Model 3.
To Mustang fans around the
globe, the Mach-E is an extraor-
dinary, arguably heretical revision
of what it means to be a Mustang.
“I’m not 100% convinced badging
this car a Mustang is a good idea,”
says Sam Abuelsamid, a Navigant
mobility analyst and former Ford
engineer. “Calling it a Mustang
has the potential of polluting the
brand, and I’m not certain theFORD’S RADICAL MUSTANG MACH-E
by the subtle whine of a battery-
powered electric motor. (Ford
will add an artificial sound for the
benefit of unwary pedestrians and
U.S. regulators.) It’s expected to
retail in the $40,000 range with a
$7,500 federal rebate, a substan-
tial premium over the $27,000
gasoline- powered base Mustang
but competitive with electric-autoaudience will go for it.”
But to its maker, the Mustang
Mach-E—aimed squarely at the
heart of the automotive market
in 2020—retains the spirit of
the original: (almost) affordable,
powerful, and a little bit practical
and impractical. It is an electrified
embrace of where Ford believes
the world is headed and a daring