The “mustang mach E” - while by all accounts a great car - is just an absolutely catastrophic branding decision imo.
A Mustang is a sports car. A Mustang is not an SUV.
Honestly, it’s just so dumb. They could have picked another horse-oriented name if they really wanted to, but this is like calling an electrified Blazer a “Camaro” (to GM: please… don’t…)
Edit:
Good horse names instead of “mustang mach e”:
Clydesdale (honestly, this seems like a slam dunk. The car is heavy, but very powerful, and will likely be used by families as a “workhorse” car)
Andalusian
Appaloosa
Percheron
Shire
Ardennais
And this way, instead of the inevitable profusion of suffixes that special and sporty editions will create, you can clearly differentiate between the “sports car” line and the “electric sporty SUV” line. And do not try to fucking tell me “it’s an electric sports car!” It is not. You are lying to me and you are lying to yourself.
The only modern Ford SUV worth a damn is the Bronco, because it's a legitimate off-roader. Everything else is just a fucking station wagon, but stupider.
What's really stupid is that like you said, it's actually a great car. It could have stood on its own! Instead, it got a bunch of backlash hate. I wouldn't even look at it for a long time because of the name. After I finally did, I was pretty impressed.
Absolutely agree. It’s actually a great vehicle, and the various trim levels actually seem very sensible. But the fact that it’s a “mustang” just kills it for me as a car enthusiast. I’d never be able to own one and look at it without thinking “fuck I am such a poseur for buying an electric mustang SUV 🤦♂️”
My wife was talking about getting one and I encouraged her, because then I could basically own one, but be able to explain it away by saying "meh, my wife bought it". But she ended up not buying a new car after all. Doh!
Ford had been annoying people with this stuff for like 40 years. The 90’s and 00’s were full of cars brands that were slapped on random things that didn’t look or feel anything like their predecessor.
Ford is the worst offender (and more specifically the one who does electric SUVs) but the Mitsubishi Eclipse and Dodge Hornet are gas/hybrid SUVs that reused nameplates from sportier coupes on an SUV. I suspect the Honda Prologue might’ve been the Prelude at some point but that’s just a guess. At least that one didn’t get a reused name.
They're still have the same issue but it is not just the EV SUVs. They did the same with their ICE Mustang & Challenger. Although the latter felt marginally better than the former. Almost all cars nowadays have the same issue of looking like chubby babies with fat rolls.