DEARBORN, MICHIGAN - No legendary sports car brand or nameplate is sacred enough anymore to escape the SUV craze, and the latest victim is Ford’s Mustang.
Thankfully, though, it appears that Ford is skirting sacrilege by not actually using the Mustang nameplate on its new all-electric SUV, and while we don’t know its actual name, Ford is referring to it as a “Mustang-inspired SUV" rather than an actual Mustang. Fair enough.
The official design sketch that you see above is our closest look yet at the new battery-powered SUV, and the Mustang inspiration is clear to see in the fastback profile, bulging haunches and claw-like tail lights.
Ford has just announced the reveal date for the Mustang-inspired SUV, which is set for November 18, so we’ll know all the juicy details in just a few weeks from now.
So what has Ford blurted about so far?
Not much, but the company has stated that it’s targeting a driving range of up to 600km between recharges for the electric powertrain.
No power or performance figures have been divulged as yet, but given the muscle car inspiration, and all the Tesla hype these days, it’s a fair assumption that this electrocuted Pony will gallop with some vigour.
The Mustang-inspired SUV forms part of a big electric and hybrid push for Ford, which is expected to see more than half of the cars it sells in Europe being electrified in some way by the year 2022.
Ford will also be making use of Volkswagen’s MEB electric car architecture that underpins the ID.3 through a recent partnership between the two companies, while the American carmaker also recently bought a stake in EV start-up Rivian, which is expected to spawn new electric Ford bakkies and SUVs built on Rivian’s skateboard-like architecture.