Earlier this month, British auto publication Autocar reported some details on Ford’s future performance-oriented battery-electric crossover – a model originally announced under the pseudonym “Mach 1”. The outlet alleged that the new BEV, which will borrow styling cues from the iconic Ford Mustang pony car, will ride on the same “C2” platform as the all-new, fourth-generation Focus compact car, the same as the next iteration of the Kuga (née “Escape”) petrol CUV.
Yet according to one Ford spokesperson, that’s inaccurate; Ford’s forthcoming performance electric crossover won’t be underpinned by any of the automaker’s front-wheel-drive petrol car platforms at all. Rather, as it announced back in March, the automaker is working on a new, clean-sheet architecture to support its future battery-electric offerings, and the 300-mile Mustang-inspired BEV will be the first to adopt it. This makes sense as the structural and packaging requirements of a purely-electric powertrain are entirely different from those of an ICE powertrain, and due to the relatively small size of electric drive motors, such an architecture could likely be designed to support front-, rear-, and all-wheel-drive with ease.
Additionally, we’ve learned that the unnamed performance electric CUV is the very model Ford referred to in January of last year when it announced plans to introduce a battery-powered crossover with 300 or more miles of driving range. In other words: the “Mach 1” won’t be the performance edition of a more basic, less-sporty electric CUV. At launch, at least, it will be the only edition.
The vehicle’s official name has yet to be announced, but Ford maintains that it never intended to sell the CUV as the “Mach 1”. Rather, the automaker says it used that moniker as a placeholder, selecting the name for its ability to communicate the intended “spirit” of the product. As the crossover isn’t due until 2020, we expect we’ll have to wait a bit before we learn what its actual production name will be.
Comments
Not too long ago, a story surfaced that said Ford had filed for a copyright on the name “Maverick”. Seems fitting for
a vehicle that is a radical departure from Ford’s current offerings.