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Griswold Family Returns for Mustang Mach-E Ad

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Ford Mustang Mach-E Griswold family ad
Ellen and Clark Griswold star in a new Ford Mustang Mach-E ad
Photo: Ford

If you’re lining up a list of Christmas movies to marathon this week, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is probably on there somewhere near the top. (Right next to 1989’s Elves, no doubt.) Ford is banking on people spending time with the Griswold family this week, enlisting Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo for a new ad showing off the 2021 Mustang Mach-E. In the short video, titled Electri-Vacation, Chase and D’Angelo reprise their respective roles of Clark and Ellen Griswold.


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The new TV spot, which debuts Dec. 22 during the Saturday Night Live Christmas Special, recreates one of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’s best-known scenes. No, not the one where Clark goes on a tirade after not receiving the Christmas bonus he deserved. (Though a lot of folks are probably feeling that moment pretty deeply with the news about this stimulus package.) The one where the goofball patriarch of the Griswold clan brings together his mighty plugs to illuminate his home and bring down the power grid.

Watch: Electri-Vacation, starring the Griswolds

Things kick off with Clark, Ellen, and the completely recast Griswold clan heading outside to witness the light show. When Clark’s first attempt fails and the house remains dark, Ellen heads to the garage and flips the power switch, unknowingly saving Clark’s bacon.

While she’s there, Ellen goes to a wall-mounted Ford Connected Charge Station and walks the cable out to a Rapid Red Metallic Ford Mustang Mach-E Premium sitting in the driveway. When the lights kick on and Handel’s “Hallelujah” chorus kicks in, all eyes turn to the Mustang Mach-E luxuriating in the soft glow.

Chevy Chase: Ford paid me to do this Mustang Mach-E ad!

Ford Mustang Mach-E Griswold family ad
Chevy Chase would like you to know he will do things for money
Photo: Ford

Ford’s choice to leverage the Vacation franchise to promote its Mustang Mach-E lines up pretty well. The franchise’s iconic vehicle, the Wagon Queen Family Truckster, was based on a 1979 Ford LTD Country Squire. The Mustang and Vacation movies were both hot commodities in the 1980s. Both immediately make you think of the open road. And many purists don’t want to acknowledge that the most recent iterations of either are canon.

A net side effect of using Vacation: Giving Chevy Chase work. Chase, a known schmuck, told Ford he was very happy that he got paid to appear in Electri-Vacation.

“It’s great to be back for another Christmas with my on-screen family and its rotating assortment of kids — and I have Ford and Mustang Mach-E to thank for paying me to do it,” said Chase.

Just seems like he’d be a lovely bloke to work with, no?

Mustang Mach-E arrives in time for Christmas

Ford Mustang Mach-E Griswold family ad
Beverly D’Angelo, by all accounts a lovely person, with Mustang Mach-E
Photo: Ford

Ford is eager to show off its Mustang Mach-E with deliveries underway across the United States. With a max range of 300-miles on a full charge, the Mustang Mach-E hits its goal of helping dispel range anxiety. The upcoming GT Performance Edition also dispels the idea that an EV can’t be fun to drive, accelerating from 0-60 mph in just 3.5 seconds.

Ford’s already hauling in hardware for its Mustang Mach-E. This year, the new Mustang has won Green Car Journal’s Green Car of the Year and the title of Edmunds Top Rated Luxury EV. It has also been named a finalist for 2021 North American Utility Vehicle of the Year.


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