On the eve of filing its financial statements for the first quarter of the year, American automaker Ford announced last week its second price cut of 2023 for its Mustang Mach-E electric crossover. This is a pricing strategy that goes against the market to boost sales as dealers can place orders again.
All Premium trims, whether or not they have all-wheel drive or a long-range battery, see their prices drop by between $3,000 and $11,000, depending on the configuration chosen. The most expensive trims—California Route 1 and GT Performance Edition—will retail for $69,995 and $82,995 respectively, representing discounts of over $9,000 in both cases.
This price adjustment is also accompanied by the introduction of a new lithium-iron phosphate battery, the arrival of which was announced in February. This will be offered on board the “standard” autonomy models (72 kWh) and will slightly increase the autonomy of the rear-wheel drive version to 402 km and to 364 km for the all-wheel drive version. The latter will also benefit from an additional 45 hp in the transition to increase the count to 311 hp thanks to its two engines.
Ford says that this new battery can be charged to 100% more often and will take 5 minutes less to go from 10% to 80% on a fast charging station. It is used by Ford in order to reduce its dependence on nickel and cobalt and thus increase its production capacity of electric models. On the other hand, it performs less well in cold weather.
Following the announcement, Ford CEO Jim Farley told The Wall Street Journal in an interview that price cuts in the electric car industry “were a worrying trend,” alluding to the strategy of its competitor Tesla. “The resale value for people who bought at higher prices is terrible,” Farley argues, noting that there’s a “line” that the automaker won’t cross in this price war between the Mustang Mach -E and the Tesla Model Y.
