Mustang By Name, Not By Nature

Ford Mustang Mach-E

- Georg Kacher

FORD’S LATEST pony car is a near-silent, environmentally-more-friendly galloper shaped like a crossbreed of Flemington winner and steeplechase champion. Badged Mustang, the Mach-E is heralded as a decidedly dynamic EV that puts street cred above cabin acreage and presence before lollipop aerodynamics.

This electric Ford is designed to build a bridge between the brand’s glory years and a planet-friendlier tomorrow, but where exactly does it rank in a queue that includes new arrivals like the VW ID4 and Volvo XC40 Recharge?

Designed in Dearborn, the Mach-E is not quite centrefold pretty but well proportioned, functional and unmistakably Ford; like a grown-up Kuga with pursed painted lips and a nicely rounded rear end with Mustangstyle tail-lights.

The cosseting cabin is notably more upmarket than the loveless driver environment of a Tesla, the cheapo interior of the ID4, and the Jaguar iPace workstation, which appears to be different mainly for the sake of nonconformism. There’s a larger-than-life centre touchscreen running Ford’s new Sync 4 infotainment, complemented by a smaller rectangular display in the driver’s direct field of vision. With the exception of the rotary volume control, the buttons on the steering wheel and the Jaguar-style circular gearselector, access to all MMI areas is by touchscreen and voice control.