Ford is committed to electric vehicles and today revealed more details about its upcoming performance electric SUV. Jim Farley, President of Ford Global Markets, speaking a media event today, called the upcoming vehicle low-slung like a Mustang. The company is targeting 2020 release and Farley promised that it will be famous without having to shoot it into space — clearly taking a shot at Elon Musk’s recent stunt.
It’s likely this upcoming SUV will be a Mustang in more than just performance numbers.
The Mustang is halo car. The two-seater is not for everyone, but it represents the Ford brand of practical, affordable performance. A Mustang can bring people into a showroom. That’s part of its job and this upcoming performance EV SUV will likely be tasked with the same role: bring people into dealerships and leave with a Ford even if it’s not the swanky new EV SUV.
This vehicle will be the first of six electric vehicles Ford plans on producing by 2022 as part of the company’s plan to invest $11 billion into electric vehicles. A performance EV SUV sits nicely in Ford’s overall line up. The automaker said today that SUVs are driving Ford Performance sales, which are on track to grow another 71% by 2020.
Ford promised more details about the upcoming model at a later time. Expect the auto maker to expect to get a lot of publicity mileage out of this EV.