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Despite a wave of automakers going electric, and Ford leading the charge on many models, the company has decided to continue powering its Mustangs with internal combustion engines. Nora Eckert reports for The Wall Street Journal:
Ford Motor Co. revealed its next-generation Mustang sports car Wednesday in a bid to appeal to enthusiasts who still want to feel the rumble of an engine under the hood.
The Dearborn, Mich., auto maker showed off the new model—its first redesign of the Mustang in nearly a decade—at an evening event at the Detroit auto show.
For the seventh-generation Mustang, Ford said it plans to stick with an internal combustion engine, a strategy that contrasts with that of some rivals who are transitioning their performance cars to electric.
The move also stands out for Ford, which has been aggressive in adding more EVs to its lineup. Ford executives have said they expect 40% of the company’s global sales to be fully electric by 2030, and earlier this year, Chief Executive Jim Farley reorganized the company’s internal operations to create a dedicated division for EVs.
Still, for legacy models such as the Mustang, whose heritage is largely tied to loud and fast performance engines, the shift to EVs poses a trickier challenge, analysts and dealers said.
“For the Mustang enthusiasts, the car evokes emotion, and part of that emotion is the smell of fuel” and the sound of the traditional V-8 engine, said Greg Larson, vice president for Sill-TerHar Motors, a Colorado-based dealer that sells the Ford and Lincoln brands. These attributes provide a level of comfort for these customers because that is what they have always known, he added.
The redesigned Mustang will go on sale as a 2024 model year vehicle and offer new engine options, along with an overhauled interior with two, curved displays that owners can customize. Pricing is expected to be disclosed closer to the release date.
Ford already has an electric SUV that wears the Mustang logo—the Mustang Mach-E. The car company took a gamble in affixing the pony-car name to the fully electric model when it went on sale in late 2020, but so far, the Mach-E has done well with consumers. Ford has said it has lengthy waiting lists for the vehicle.
Jeff Marentic, Ford’s general manager for family and enthusiast vehicles in North America, said that the auto maker has expanded the Mustang family of vehicles to give buyers the option of an electric model.
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