Ford’s electric passenger model here from early next year

LOCAL supply of Ford’s fully electric passenger car, the Mustang Mach-E, has at last been wrangled, with availability from early 2023.

Ford New Zealand says pricing and specification for the five-seater sports utility won’t be announced until closer to release.

Unveiled globally in late 2019, and launched in the United States, Europe and the UK in 2020, the Blue Oval’s rival for the Tesla Model Y, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6 and Volkswagen ID.4 has been challenging for the national distributor to corral.

Overseas supply and demand issues have been blamed for keeping the all-electric thoroughbred away from local showrooms.

A Ford NZ spokesman said today it’s been a help that NZ was elevated to “compliance market” status, as result of the Government’s proactive attitude toward electric car take-up.

There is no comment about whether the recent arrival of grey import examples, at least two to a Christchurch seller, has also spurred distributor involvement.

Mach-E choice overseas covers a range of rear- and all-wheel-drive powertrains, from versions with 98.4kWh battery packs capable of 610km driving ranges (according to Europe’s WLTP test cycle), to the range-topping, all-paw GT, good for 358kW/860Nm outputs and 3.7-second 0-100kmh sprint time.

Associating an electric crossover with the world-famous nameplate has been controversial with owners of the sports coupe, however Ford locally has no qualms, saying the electric model “introduces the freedom, performance, and iconic character of the world’s best-selling sports car to all-electric vehicle customers.” They vow it will bring “super-car-comparable performance and acceleration.”

“The Mach-E is one of the most exciting vehicles Ford has ever introduced and it will be amazing on New Zealand roads,” said local managing director Simon Rutherford.

For us, this is a big success already – it’s taken a lot of work behind the scenes but now we’re very excited to be launching this incredible vehicle to our customers.”

Ford NZ say the Mach-E is part of an ongoing customer-focused electrification strategy that will give Kiwi customers the choice of up to seven new Ford electrified vehicles by the end of 2024.

This year Ford has already moved to offer mild and plug-in hybrids across most of its passenger, SUV and Transit range and a wholly battery-compelled E-Transit is coming this year.

It is working with Singer Electric New Zealand, a supplier of electric vehicle charging infrastructure for both homes and businesses with one initiative being to roll out charging stations to main dealer sites and, progressively, branch locations. Installations include customer forecourt charging stations and charging capabilities in service areas.