Barron’s writer Al Root takes the Ford Mustang Mach-E for a drive.
Al Root
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Ford,
the company that pioneered affordable personal transport more than a century ago, hit the nail on the head with drivers and shareholders with its new all-electric offering. The company seems ready to make a real mark in the new, electrified era of personal transport.
Barron’s know why we just spent the last few days touring Connecticut in
Ford Motorin
(ticker: F) new cross-sized Mustang Mach-E. It hardly resembles the Mustangs of old, but it has its own elegant style, inside and out, in addition to real vitality. While some EVs – hello,
Tesla
! – they may look more like space capsules than cars, there is enough tradition in this Mustang to make you feel at home. It could very well set a new standard for EV fun and ease.
Ford Mustang Mach E
Courtesy Ford
Financial writers don’t usually rate cars, but the car business is changing – significantly. Investors are convinced that EVs are the future of personal transport. That’s why Elon Musk’s Telsa is now the most valuable car company in the world by a margin roughly equal to two
Toyota Motors
(TM). Finding out which companies, if any, can take Tesla requires getting behind the wheel – an unpleasant task. Barron’s, up to this point, he drove a Tesla Model 3 with two engines, a Volvo Polestar and now a Mach-E.
The Mach-E Mustang is our favorite EV vehicle so far. The car is beautiful and fast – fast enough to generate butterflies. Our model went from zero to 60 in five seconds. The style and nameplate pulled the strings of our hearts. And, with prices starting at $ 44,000, the Mach-E is available to many Americans.
The version we drive, the Mach-E First Edition, is the closest to Tesla’s twin engine, model Y with four-wheel drive. This car costs about $ 50,000, while the Mach-E First Edition costs about $ 60,000. But comparing models and resources is, at best, an inexact science. What’s more, early Mustang buyers will still qualify for a $ 7,500 federal tax credit. Tesla sold many EVs to continue to qualify for credits like this.
The Model Y has a better range – an EPA list of 320 miles on a single charge, versus 270 miles for the Mustang. In the cold Northeast, Ford’s battery management software said it had 240 miles of range. But reach is not everything in life. You have to look at the whole experience of the car.
The most surprising part of the test weekend was not the trip, it was the reaction of other pilots and passers-by. Ford passed the neck test.
People were uniformly impressed by the appearance and many wanted to direct it. Tesla vehicles, in our experience, no longer accumulate the same reaction. Sure, Tesla Models S, X and 3 have already done that, but people have gotten used to its angular and futuristic appearance. Ford, based on our sample size, was able to create some important news for Mach-E.
This is good for the Ford company and good for Ford investors. Ford recently pledged to spend about $ 20 billion on electrical and autonomous development by 2025. Adjusted to Ford’s size, it is almost as much as any other traditional automaker. Now, investors have some initial evidence that the money will be well spent.
Ford’s shares may already be getting some credit for Mach-E. The shares rose almost 31% in the year. More likely, however, it was better than the expected quarterly results that drove stocks.
Wall Street, despite new products and better earnings, remains cautious about stocks. About 22% of the analysts who cover the company’s shares evaluate Buying. The average purchase rating ratio for shares in the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
is about 57%.
Barron’s is more optimistic than the average analyst, recently writing positively about Ford. We said that the new management could improve margins and lead the company to what Wedbush analyst Dan Ives is calling the golden age of EVs. Since this article appeared, the stock has risen about 27%, better than the comparable 7% gain in
S&P 500.
Building quality EVs at a price at which traditional car manufacturers can profit and defend the market share of fully EV companies, such as Tesla, is central to the actions of traditional car manufacturers. Ford appears to have an early victory in that battle.
Barron’s has another idea for all EV manufacturers, including Ford and Tesla. All of today’s EVs appear to have a giant iPad glued to the dashboard. It is a useful and futuristic interface, but it is not really integrated or beautiful. Some intrepid automotive designer should do something about it.
Write to Al Root at [email protected]