Chubby pony wins: Ford Mustang Mach-E sells better than gasoline Mustang

Also, or because they actually have nothing in common except their name: The Ford Mustang outperformed the conventionally powered Mustangs as an electric car in 2024. This neither fits the cliché of V8-obsessed Americans with a pony car fetish nor the test conclusion of our colleague, who once more or less lovingly called the Mustang Mach-E a "pudgy pony".

The fact that Ford's electric crossover model is now in second place behind Tesla's Model 3 in terms of electric car sales in the USA does little to change the rather unimpressive figures compared to the market as a whole. Nevertheless, the increase is steep: the Mustang Mach-E achieved growth of 26.9 percent year-on-year with 51,745 units, while all conventionally powered Mustang models together only achieved 44,003 units despite model updates for 2023, corresponding to a loss of 9.5 percent. The last time the "real" Mustang sold so slowly was in 2005, albeit in a completely different form.

Running for Ford – in the USA

While Ford Germany has hundreds of electric Ford Explorers in stock and certainly has a serious sales problem due to the high price, including short-time working and poor forecasts, things are apparently going well for the traditional manufacturer in the USA. Every electric car model from Ford achieved double-digit growth in the USA in 2024. The Ford F-150 Lightning achieved 38.7 percent growth with 33,510 units, while the E-Transit sold 64.4 percent better with 12,610. After Ford set a new quarterly record in the fourth quarter of 2023 with 30,176 e-cars sold, total Ford electric car sales in the states rose to 97,865 units in 2024, an increase of 34.8 percent over 2023.

The Mustang Mach-E had its best quarterly result since its introduction at the end of 2020 with 16,119 units in the fourth quarter of 2024. With 51,745 Mach-Es sold last year, it was the second best-selling electric SUV in the USA after the Tesla Model Y. Which finally names the elephant in the room: SUVs, or "sports utility vehicles", are now far more popular in the USA than sports cars. In this respect, comparing the two simply on the basis of the name leads to an unfair "apples versus pears" comparison anyway.

From the future for the future

Nevertheless, Ford has apparently had to draw some of its good sales from the future: As the US platform Cars Direct writes, Ford had subsidized electric car sales in the US so massively that the conventionally powered Mustang no longer saw any land in leasing rates. Sales could remain good: Ford is temporarily taking over the electric car premium that was discontinued for this model because of the batteries from China. As soon as Ford equips it with its own batteries produced in Michigan, the Ford Mustang Mach-E will once again qualify for the 7500 US dollar tax rebate.

(fpi)