When Ford introduced the 2021 Mach-E to the public as a four-door electric crossover without a semblance to the iconic model, it showed that the automaker is willing to explore unfamiliar territory with the Mustang nameplate. On some level, it seemed the company was hinting at an entirely new family of models using the world-renowned name.
In an interview with British magazine Autocar, head of Ford’s European design department Murat Gueler confirmed the speculations.
“There’s a lot of emotion with the Mustang, and it’s time to progress that and make it spread wider,” he said. “We’ve talked about building a family.”
If it were 10 years ago, the idea to turn the Mustang into a family of models would have been farfetched mainly because the car relied on the United States for a huge amount of its sales.
But for the current sixth-generation model, the Blue Oval opted to make it available in other global markets to increase its popularity among consumers. And it looks like the strategy worked for the brand that it’s now considering the production of a family of cars with the Mustang name.
The Mach-E is the first Mustang model that will likely be part of the expansion. It does not have a Ford branding anywhere in the vehicle but instead comes with a re-styled horse-shaped Mustang logo on its steering wheel, front and rear ends, and the center caps of it wheels.
This move highly suggests Ford could be planning on officially launching a sub-brand for the nameplate. Although Gueler didn’t share more specific details, he did confirm the Blue Oval will not expand the Mustang range simply by enlarging or downsizing the Mach-E.
“We don’t want to take the Russian doll approach, where you can’t tell them apart other than the size of the car, but we want a family feel where a Ford EV starts to build off this concept. We’d never do a small version of this–if we did a smaller vehicle, it would have different proportions,” he said.
Right now, it’s hard to tell if Ford is thinking of releasing gasoline-powered Mustang cars. But given Gueler’s pronouncements, the company could be sharing more of what’s in store for the brand in the next few months.
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