Bill Ford: Mustang-Inspired Electric Crossover Will “Go Like Hell”
For the time being, the upcoming Ford Mustang-inspired battery-electric crossover is largely a mystery — it doesn’t even technically have a name. We know it’s got a butt that looks like a Mustang, and that it will also bear the influence of the new Ford Explorer. We know it’ll have a fully electric range of more than 300 miles, and that it will also be performance-oriented. And with respect to its performance capabilities, Ford Motor Company Executive Chairman and Crain’s Detroit Business Newsmaker of the Year Bill Ford has given the vehicle a stated intent that will ring true to brand enthusiasts: “Go like hell.”
“When we first started talking about electrification, there was this thought that there had to be a trade-off: It was either going to be green and boring and no fun, or really exciting but burn a lot of fossil fuels,” Ford said at a special luncheon this week. “Electrification has come to the point that you can do both.”
Ford’s promise that the upcoming BEV “is going to go like hell” is a direct riff on the legendary words of Henry Ford II, who instructed drivers to do the very same in their quest to overthrow Ferrari at Le Mans. Apart from this directive, however, Ford had little else of note to say about the mystery-shrouded crossover.
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Photo: Ford Motor Company
Ford did hit on the importance of the upcoming Corktown campus in luring in young and upcoming talent and turning Detroit into a hub for invention. Ford is in the process of renovating Michigan Central Station, which will serve as the focal point of a massive 1.2-million-square-foot campus.
“It’s really about creating the future of transportation. It shouldn’t be on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley. It should be here in Detroit,” said Ford. “We’ll have a connected corridor extending from Corktown to Dearborn to Ann Arbor where the future of autonomous driving and all the technology — not just autonomous vehicles — will be developed and tested. There’s nowhere else that I can think of where we can do something like that.”
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