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The Stakes Are High: Inside the Team Developing Ford’s New Generation of Electric Vehicles


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Damn, you beat me to it

 

 

Btw, I told you all the Mach 1 thing was getting Mustang-esque tail lights

 

I wonder if it'll have a horizontal element to the lights or if that's just some sort of way to obscure things using a light flare. I kind of like the horizontal element - especially as a way to connect it to Mustang (with the tri bars), but make it unique with the horizontal element.

 

Lincoln will be able to use the E1 base of that vehicle to make a German competitor

 

It could look pretty sexy.

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Using Mustang styling cues (those triple tails are a unique Mustang identifier) is going to alienate a number of Mustang fans. This one included. Using Mustang styling cues isn't brave, its stupid, in my opinion.

 

As long as the vehicle looks good and performs well in its market segment, I'm fine with it . . . and I'm a Mustang Owner/Fan.

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Using Mustang styling cues (those triple tails are a unique Mustang identifier) is going to alienate a number of Mustang fans. This one included. Using Mustang styling cues isn't brave, its stupid, in my opinion.

 

Does alienate = not buy another? If not, I don't think it is a problem how mustang fans feel. Lets not forget a Mustang is a Ford first and using cues from it to add excitement to other vehicles is a good idea if it helps people get excited about buying other "cool" Ford vehicles. Not sure how many people will feel the same as you but I would bet it is not as many as you think. Plus they will get over it. Also a Mustang owner and fan!

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Using Mustang styling cues (those triple tails are a unique Mustang identifier) is going to alienate a number of Mustang fans. This one included. Using Mustang styling cues isn't brave, its stupid, in my opinion.

Mustang purists might be offended, but this is the age of perpetual offendedness, and purists are particularly perpetually offended.

 

I think it would be a mistake to use straight-up Mustang taillights, but using Mustang styling cues is a different story. I don't think anyone was overly offended by the use of Mustang styling cues on the '13 Fusion.

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Mustang purists might be offended, but this is the age of perpetual offendedness, and purists are particularly perpetually offended.

 

I think it would be a mistake to use straight-up Mustang taillights, but using Mustang styling cues is a different story. I don't think anyone was overly offended by the use of Mustang styling cues on the '13 Fusion.

This

 

Though as weve seen the surefure way to piss everyone off is to give it the Mach 1 name. They really should have not used it at all, temporarily or otherwise.

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I doubt that today's Mustang buyers will be offended by a crossover with similar styling cues,

it's still going to be completely different to Mustang in all the important ways and much better

plan than just doing a four door Mustang........

Edited by jpd80
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As a former / future mustang owner, It will take some getting used to seeing mustang tail lights on a crossover. It has to be done right. Not that it will deter me from buying another mustang but it will determine if I buy one of these "Mach I" things and if I talk it up or down to friends and family. If it looks like a mustang cousin then it has to live up to the family name. Performance has to be a little better than other EV CUVs in its price range. Also Ford has to get the name right. More so than other vehicles if looks like Mustang "family". Not something boring like "Model E" but not disrespecting it's great uncles either by taking the "Mach I" , "Boss" or other legendary names. It has to be special, otherwise don't use the Mustang taillights or names that imply Mustang family DNA. The Fusion was far enough away from a Mustang that no one really implied Mustang DNA. They way the have been teasing this vehicle, it better be more exciting than a Fusion or don't use so many Mustang cues.

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Interesting article that discusses how Hackett told them to start over on the Mach 1:

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmuller/2018/09/06/ford-ceo-james-hackett-under-fire-from-wall-street-shows-forbes-the-early-fruits-of-his-turnaround-plan/#1412f575b6f4

 

 

 

At a splashy news conference at the Detroit auto show last January, Ford Motor boasted about a slew of 40 new electric vehicles and hybrids coming by 2022, an $11 billion investment. As bolts of electricity flashed across a giant video backdrop, Ford teased one EV in particular, the Mach 1, a high-performance, battery-powered SUV inspired by the iconic Ford Mustang.

But Ford didn’t show any images of the Mach 1 concept car that day, and for good reason: it didn’t exist.

Just weeks earlier, the company’s newly installed chief executive, James Hackett, pulled the plug on Ford’s first dedicated EV, due in 2020, because it was too generic, urging designers to create something that would stand out in a sea of expected plug-in cars. Instead of a “compliance car” to satisfy regulators, he said, it needed to be aspirational. In his typical probing style, he asked: “How are we going to win?”

The answer played out over the next six weeks, as Ford designers and engineers, working nights and weekends, pivoted in an entirely new direction, creating an athletic-looking, battery-powered crossover utility with a targeted range of 300 miles that could compete with high-performance plug-in models from Tesla, Porsche and Jaguar. Ripping up a design that’s six months into development is rare; turning out a new concept in a matter of weeks is virtually unheard of.

 

Fast-forward to today and Hackett can’t wait to show Forbes how they did it during an exclusive interview conducted during a rare visit to Ford’s Dearborn, Michigan, design studios.

“That’s the money shot,” he says, pointing to the unmistakable Mustang-inspired taillights on a sketch of the new performance utility, a clay model of the real thing parked just 20 feet away, not far from the disappointing first effort. “That changed my body language when I saw that.”

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Thank you for this, thats a really good read. This is the kind of stuff Hackett and his team should have been doing from the start.

 

Side bar: how pretentious that he refers to himself in the third person ??

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Can you really blame some of us considering he was making decisions with next to zero context and explaination?

 

I am going to go out on a limb here, with no facts to back this up so take it with a grain of salt. I think Hackett was probably apprised of the issues that Ford faced long before coming to Ford. My guess is that he and Bill had been in contact about things long before he came into his role. This is just a theory. I see it in my industry all the time. Folks meet, get chummy, talk, talk some more and keep in contact. When an opportunity arises they talk some more to see if there is any interest. Just my take but I don't think he was totally blind as to what was going on.

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Thank you for this, thats a really good read. This is the kind of stuff Hackett and his team should have been doing from the start.

 

Side bar: how pretentious that he refers to himself in the third person

 

Yeah, makes me feel a little better.

 

The part about the bigger screens reminds me of when Mulally first arrived and the Edge's liftgate handle - clinics complained about it saying it was hard to open, and product guys were explaining why it was put there, yadda yadda, and Mulally told them to just listen to the feedback, and make changes.

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Can you really blame some of us considering he was making decisions with next to zero context and explaination?

 

Well, you didn't even give the guy a chance.

 

 

I am going to go out on a limb here, with no facts to back this up so take it with a grain of salt. I think Hackett was probably apprised of the issues that Ford faced long before coming to Ford. My guess is that he and Bill had been in contact about things long before he came into his role. This is just a theory. I see it in my industry all the time. Folks meet, get chummy, talk, talk some more and keep in contact. When an opportunity arises they talk some more to see if there is any interest. Just my take but I don't think he was totally blind as to what was going on.

 

Bingo! It's not like they just call him up and say "hey, we need a CEO, are you available?" Then, Hackett just shows up for his first day on the job with no idea what's going on. It doesn't work that way. He had a pretty good idea of what he was getting into, and the Ford board had a pretty good idea of the basics of his plan before he showed up for work (my theory anyway).

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