Yahoo Autos 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E May Get Shelby Variant—Or May Not
The newest member of Ford's Mustang family has a high-performance GT variant, but there is early speculation about other, higher-performance editions from such sources as the U.K.'s Evo.
The Mustang Mach-E GT makes 459 horsepower and 612 lb-ft of torque, and according to Ford achieves a zero-to-60-mph time in the mid-three-second range.
Whether or not Shelby or other versions are coming, it's confirmed that the Mustang Mach-E GT will arrive at dealers in early 2021.
Ford's newest member of the Mustang family, the all-electric Mach-E SUV, was introduced with a high-performance GT variant, which wasn't much of a surprise considering it's a Mustang. However, we're all human, so naturally we always want more. So, here's everything we know about potential higher-performance variants of Ford's first all-electric Mustang.
When we visited Ford's product development center in Dearborn in late October to get an early briefing on the Mustang Mach-E, Ford emphasized that we should not get our hopes up for the release of any sort of Mach-E Shelby variant. However, we noticed that they did not out-and-out reject the idea of some high-performance editions that could outdo the GT. Today, a Ford spokesperson told C/D that it's premature to speculate on future high-performance products, which is also not a denial.
Dave Pericak, whose title is director of Ford Icons, told Road & Track that the Mach-E wasn't developed for sustained performance on the track. But considering its crossover body style, it's not a big surprise if track-day performance wasn't on the team's list of priorities during development.
On the other hand, Porsche made it very clear at launch that its first all-electric car, the four-door Taycan sedan, would be highly focused on performance in traditional Porsche fashion. And there's the fact tht the Mach-E is a Mustang, and Ford expresses extreme confidence that it will drive like one, even if it is a crossover. Shouldn't it get the same kinds of higher-performance variants as the "regular" Mustang?
British car magazine Evo, for one, was ready to jump to Shelb-E conclusions when Ford Performance chief program engineer Ed Krenz told them he is "looking forward to the challenge of applying the Shelby characteristics to an electric car." But, to our knowledge, he didn't speculate which "electric car" he was speaking of. We know Ford plans to use the Mach-E's electric vehicle architecture to expand its EV lineup in the future, so could we see an electric Shelby in the future? As of now, we can't be at all sure what this could mean.
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