With Ford Motor Company investing heavily in electric vehicles and the batteries that will power those vehicles, the future for many ICE-powered models is a bit unclear. However, as Ford Authority reported back in June of 2020 and then confirmed early this year, the next-generation Ford Edge has already been canceled as the Oakville Assembly plant – where the Edge and Lincoln Nautilus are built – will be retooled to produce five new EVs starting in 2025. Ford CEO Jim Farley hinted at this move while speaking at the 2022 Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference recently, which is also where he pointed out that he believes the Ford Mustang Mach-E is a superior vehicle compared to the Edge, too.
“Forget about the cost switching. We know it’s a better product, except for maybe the range,” Farley said. “So the cost between an Edge with a really efficient EcoBoost engine, 10-speed transmission, and a Mach-E, they’re almost the same product in terms of category. The Mach-E is a much better product.”
While the Ford Mustang Mach-E remains a key component of the automaker’s bet on EVs, the Edge is currently on its way out following the 2023 model year, with order banks set to open next month, as Ford Authority reported last week. However, The Blue Oval has more new all-electric models coming over the next several years to fill out its lineup, though it also has a very specific focus in terms of what should and shouldn’t be electrified.
As Ford Authority previously reported, Ford’s EV plans are currently centered around the automaker’s more iconic models and commercial vehicles, while Farley also recently said that future Ford EV models will not simply be electric variants of existing ICE models, either.
We’ll have more on the Edge soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Ford Edge news, Mustang Mach-E news, and ongoing Ford news coverage.
Comments
Whether or not Farley is right or wrong here, some things are best unsaid. Especially by the CEO.
Agreed. Plus better in what sense? It depends what your needs are. Beyond the fact that the Edge is a fantastic car for long distance travel and the Mach E simply cannot.
The Edge has 33% more luggage space, which is a huge plus taking grown kids for a week at the beach.
Speaking of family comfort, the Edge’s rear seating area has 2 inches more legroom, headroom, and a whopping 5 inches more shoulder room. The Edge has a truly impressive back seat that incidentally, is reclining as well. So yeah, a very comfortable and extremely quiet continent crossing car. (Our ST has active noise canceling)
As far as handling and performance, our 2019 ST has far more straight line speed than required out of a family vehicle, enough to outrun many so-called sports cars, and the same goes for it’s cornering capabilities augmented by aggressive rev matching downshifts and thrust vectoring AWD to blast you out of a corner when called upon.
The Edge is far ahead as a family vacation / long range travel vehicle. As a day to day grocery getter, the electric car might be better. The Edge is also obviously fine as a grocery getter but in this case the advantage would go to electric convenience. (I used to own an electric car, they are fabulous for 5-10 mile errand trips)
It depends what you’re buying the vehicle for. As far a declaring one clearly superior to the other as blanket statement, it sounds a bit ignorant to me. Not a good look on a major car corporation CEO, as you mentioned.
I’m not 100% sure, because of how it’s measured by volume currently, that the Edge REALLY has more cargo capacity. It’d be interesting to load a MME and an Edge up side-by-side. I can tell you that the passenger seating in an MME feels way roomier and more comfortable (understanding that this is somewhat subjective).
The MME is 100% capable of road trips, with most charging stops ranging from 15 – 25 min. It’s not as fast as filling up a gas tank, true, but it’s also not horrid.
The MME kind of kicks the Edge’s butt in terms of performance, and it’s also way less maintenance, so you’re getting great performance AND practicality for day-to-day driving with what I consider to be acceptable performance on road trips (which are generally taken FAR less often).
Edge has more passenger room, more cargo room, can tow 3500 pounds, can go 400 miles on a tank, don’t have to change your route to find a charger, rides much better, heated and cooled seats, large sliding sunroof. Mach E stills needs brake fluid changed every three years, transmission service at 150K, battery coolant change at 200k, so it not way less for maintenance, except for oil changes, air filters. Also as the years go by, the battery range will be less and less, where the Edge will still not change. Better heater in the cold, better a/c and if you don’t have off street parking, you have no where to charge at night.
Only the Mach E GT line is quicker than the Edge ST which tops out at 130 mph and costs much more. It is smaller, hard to see out the back windows for passengers, less cargo room, no cooling seats, no large sunroof, no towing package. It is a nice grocery getter vehicle.
An American icon made in Mexico while Mexicans are coming here.
The Edge rides better, has way more room, can go over 400 miles without stopping, has a sliding sunroof, heated and cooled leather seats, 3500 towing limit, better ground clearance.
It’s definitely better. It’s faster, roomier, looks better, is way more efficient, and is a better daily in every way. My MME is the best daily I’ve ever owned.
I’ve never owned an Edge, but I’ve drove one as a rental. I own a Mustang Mach-E. It’s the best car I’ve ever owned in 22 years of driving. The Edge is decent, but there are many better similar sized SUVs. The MME is faster, has way more style, rides and handles better, more comfortable, more tech, more economical, less maintenance, has BlueCruise available for roadtrips, more cargo capacity when counting the frunk. Jim Farley is right that it’s better and there is no question. Excited to see the new EVs that get made at this plant in a few years, hopefully they will be as good as the MME.
The MME’s luggage space behind the seats is less than the Escape LOL. In terms of space, the MME is “In the fight” / somewhat comparable to the smaller Escape
Since we’re comparing the Edge
MME Lugage seats up 29.7 + 4.7 for frunk = 34.1
Edge Luggage Seats up = 39.2 BTW 39.2 – 34.1 = 5.1 cubes more in the Edge Meaning the Edge = MME plus 2x frunks and then some.
MME Luggage seats down – 59.7
Edge seats down – 73.4 cubes.. LOL, we’re not even in the same zip code, you can add the frunk all you want
In terms of raw performance, some models of the MME are faster for one 5 second run…
Dirty little secret = MME gets full power for 5 consecutive seconds only
The Edge ST will do 0-60 in 5.7 all day long. At 14.3 secs for the 1/4 mile, The ST is quicker then the Mach E Route 1 at 14.7 but slower than some other models. Honestly, it’s a draw… In perfect conditions.
In the winter in cold temperatures, the Mach E’s batteries loose capacity and the systems that keep them alive dial back the power accordingly… Similarly, in the heat of summer, the nannies rear their ugly heads again, trying to keep the batteries and system cool. Summer heat and winter cold have long been engineered-out of ICE engines. The Edge even has engine oil and transmission coolers. Part of ST package run at the track all day if you so choose. Does the MME have additional coolers for track use? In adverse conditions, you might get a little less mpg in the Edge but the Horsepower and torque are all there, even more so in the winter with the denser air.
The skid pad (True measure of grip) is 0.9 G for the Edge and around 0.93 or so depending model for the Mach E Again, negligible difference.
I’m not saying the MME is no good. I like it and might actually own one when it gets 400+ highway miles capability. But then my kids will be out of the house living their own busy lives and I won’t need as much space. As mentioned above I owned an electric car in the past and it was a very convenient / economical car for errands around town.
It’s about what you use the car for / what it does for you. And as family hauler, the back seat of the Edge is exponentially larger and more comfortable, and the cargo capabilities are far far better. Simple fact of life. So saying that one or another is superior across the board is ignoring / missing several factors.
You are correct that the Edge can be faster than many of the Mach E models. When they run numbers on the Mach E it is always with a battery charge of 80% or more. When it get down to a lower charge rate the vehicle is slower, where a ICE powered vehicle that has 1/4 tank of fuel will be a bit quicker due to less weight. 25% charge on a Mach E will cause it to pull power back. I have seen 6.9 seconds on a standard model to 60 with 30% charge. A Ford Edge Titanium AWD does 6.8 seconds with the 2.0 engine.
Taking the whole industry shift to ev´s into account. Farley is wanting to slowly shift their everyday mainstream vehicles into ev´s and leave their enthusiast vehicles as gas powered where is makes sense.
As to why he doesnt just make the next gen version of the Edge as a ev only vehicle instead of straight up cancelling it, well, it remains to be seen if his decision is correct. I think it´s just a matter of reducing models in the line up. The Edge is too close in size and target audience to the Explorer.
I’ve caught myself giving a second look at the Edge, the only thing I’ve caught when seeing a Mach E (still not a Mustang) is a sudden wave of nausea.
Edge is larger, less expensive and even in this shortage much more available. Ice only seen a small handful of Mach E on dealer lots with $20k+ markups. But we all know they are discontinuing the edge. Having to order to get a reasonable deal, will just keep used car prices high for the next 2+ years.
I’d disagree.
Edge looks a lot better, can provide full power for more than 5 seconds, and costs like…. Half?
Look, we all get that Ford spent all the money on EVs and if it doesn’t pan out they’re doomed, but they need to get the products and pricing in place if they expect them to succeed.
Well
Electric is more expensive overall but with gas prices raising to 10 per gallon it soon will not be.lol
If you have a garage and a charger the mme is a way better car. If u r going on a trip the edge is a way better car.
I have both. So most people for a while who can afford it will have both a gas and a electric vehicle.
And eventually gas will go back cheap after everyone buys over priced ev.lol. then gas car prices will go down and everyone will buy gas. Then ev price will go down and so on till we all drive ev. But there will b a lot of highs and lows in prices and will take about 10 years.
In the end electric is a better choice. What is going on now is the government hand in hand with oil and car companies are maximizing profits.lol
Nothing new here.
Just a thought – how about a Edge Hybrid as in the Maverick or Escape Hybrid ? Would this option not be the best of both worlds of Mach E vs. ICE Edge ?
This is very shortsighted for a CEO that’s supposed to be on top of this stuff. First, the Mach-E will not be produced in the same numbers as the Edge, so even if it is better, getting ahold of ones will be a problem for several years. Then I have to pay the electric company to come install a charger in my garage.
So telling me that an ICE model I really like is going away in deference to an EV model is not feasible right now.
Further, many Edge drivers are not ready for EVs. Range anxiety is still a real issue with EVs. And surveys are showing that most Americans aren’t ready to move to EVs. Let’s not even get into the shortcomings with the grid!
So for the CEO of a traditional ICE OEM to make this kind of a statement shows me that he has no idea what the market wants and/or is ready for.
I’m afraid Mr. Farley is living in a real fantisy world right now. He idilizes Elon Musk’s company so much that he’s willing to gamble the whole 120 year old Ford Mortor Company on his fantisy of converting it in to an Electric Automotive/Truck manufacturer. EV’s may work fine if you live, work and stay a large metro area like LA. if you live and drive in the most other areas or if you want to take nice long road trip in the beautiful back roads of America I’ll invest my hard earned money in a well proven Ford Edge.
Wow …. Quite a touchy subject. I guess there is really no correct answer. It’s all personal opinion.
Jim Farley is a bright guy. I have spoken with him many times. He is a car enthusiast. He loves hot rods. But, he is the CEO of Ford Motor. His job is to make the most profit for the company on an annual basis. Ford quit making many of their car lineup because they just weren’t profitable. So, he has to push the electric vehicles. They will maximize company profit. They don’t care if you can only drive 250 miles on a charge. That will be your problem. Their job is to sell cars. Once you drive it out of the dealership, they don’t care how or where you charge it.
It’s sort of like a real estate. Their job is to sell you a house. Once they sell it, they don’t care if you can pay for it.
I see where California is now asking people not to charge EVs because they are having electric shortages. Yes, the batteries will get better but, we still need infrastructure to charge the millions of EVs that will be sold.
Also, many of the public use battery charger stations are not charging or working properly. They are not sitting at the top of every exit ramp on the freeways as are gasoline stations.
Many people claim the mining processes to obtain lithium is just as bad for the environment as CO2. Have you ever looked at the damage one volcano does to the environment? It is reported that one volcano takes out five years worth of cleaning the environment. There are numerous volcanoes every year.
All that said…. I don’t like the Mustang – E.
It should not have the Mustang nameplate attached to it. It’s a marketing scam. I don’t care how big it is or how fast it is. It’s ugly. Just as bad as the Mustang II.
When I can drive 500 miles and readily recharge in 10-15 minutes, I will think about an electric car. Hopefully they will figure out how to keep the cars from catching fire and burning my house down. They have numerous hurdles to cross before I’m interested.
A point everyone overlooks is EV drivers are not paying road taxes. The government will soon be devis ingénieur ways to collect équivalent gas taxes or our roads wont get fixed.
They are working on a “mileage tax” right now. I believe it is around page 582 of the green new deal bill in Congress. They realize they will lose an awful lot of gas tax with EVs so the plan is to tax everyone for the number of miles driven every year.
So a brand new platform/car is better in alot of ways to one that’s a decade old, what a shocker
It’s funny – all these people with strong opinions who have never drove one. Problem is I ordered my mach e in February and I will probably get it in October. About cost – $7500 back from federal and in Illinois another $4000 back . My main issue is that I wish it had 800 volt technology but as someone said, I drive 300 miles in a day rarely. Sure it costs more but in 2 years with low miles if I don’t like it, with chip shortage/lack of inventory/dealer mark up (thank goodness I got it for list – the mark-ups do seem irritating) – I suspect I would make money after 2 years if I sold it and no gas costs. I’m not sure the edge could do that.
Someone take this clown outta town…..Farley has no vision, has no common sense and has no idea of where or who he is. If employees want to keep their jobs, they better find a way to send this fool packing. He’s besmirched the whole brand of Ford and made a complete mockery of everything Henry Ford built.
I’ve owned my edge since it was new in 2012. It’s unfortunate Ford stopped the production. I may have to find a way to purchase a 2023. I love my edge with 154k miles on it.
CEO doesn’t even know what transmission is in the Edge (8 speed, not 10), so what makes him the expert?
I can’t understand why a company CEO would make a blanket statement that one car is far superior to another since they both come from the same company.
We live in our RV full-time. We need a car that can be flat towed behind our motorhome. Very few cars are able to do that. We were planing on buying the Explorer but it is no longer flat towable. The Mach E is also not flat towable. The Expedition is larger than what I wanted to tow. We carry two foldable E bikes with us. They fit in the our trunk. They would not fit in a Mach E. The performance of the Edge ST is there all day long, not only on a full charge. Gas stations are everywhere. Charging stations are not. I could fill up my car in five minutes if I needed to. To wait around for 40 min to an hour to charge is not feasible to me.
Where is all this lithium supposed to come from to build the batteries for all these electric cars? Electric cars don’t rid the earth of pollution, they just displace where the pollution occurs. Power plants still have to burn fuel of some sort to make power. And where is all this power supposed to come from. The electrical grid is already taxed to the limit in the summer running everyone’s air conditioners in their homes. Brown outs are still continuing to this day. What happens when you add all the electric cars to the equation. Electric cars are not the answer to cleaning up the pollution on this earth. Hydrogen would be a better solution, it can be made from petroleum or even water. Hydrogen fuel cells can power a car and its exhaust, is only water vapor.
To change your entire business model from petroleum to electric at this point of time is just ludicrous to me. Petroleum fueled cars will be around for a long time yet. I for one will not be trading my Edge ST for an electric, it’s the nicest car I’ve ever owned. It’s a poor decision to discontinue it in my opinion.
Oh and by the way we did the Ford Experience racing school and it was a blast. Learned a lot of things about the car. Cornering, stopping distances and the 360 collision avoidance system. It is the quickest and the safest car we have ever had. It’s a keeper. All it needs to be a top selling car is some promotion. The primary reason we bought ours is the flat towable feature but I’m so glad it was only on the ST model. With 335 hp it is fun to drive.
I acutally have both right now. My wife puchased a MachE, but decided it was too big. Now I can either keep it and sell my 2017 Edge, or just sell the MachE. I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do. The MachE is beutiful (IMO), drives great, love the tech, it’s an amazing car. However, I have always loved my Edge, it’s my 2nd Edge at that. The Edge has more cargo, extremely confortable and I’ve never had any complaints on it. I love the idea of driving an EV though, so it’s a give and take. I’m still stuck on what I’ll do . I’m very sad to see the Edge go though, it’s been my favorite car for the last for about the last 10 years.