The Ford Mustang Mach-E is an excellent on a regular basis electrical automotive. But it surely’s an SUV, primarily on just a few technicalities. Nobody would take it to the dunes. It’s so low to the bottom and tuned for highway use that the IRS briefly labeled it as a sedan for tax credit score functions earlier this 12 months (then rethought its resolution).

On some degree, that should have bothered Ford. The corporate is aware of how one can construct off-roaders. So it went again to work.

This morning, Ford raised the curtain on a brand new model of the Mach-E, one made to earn the title “SUV” and do it at excessive velocity. The 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally makes use of a few of the identical operating gear because the Mach-E GT, but it surely’s been to out of doors survival college.

‘Round $65,000’

Ford calls it “the first-ever rally-inspired EV,” and so they’re most likely proper. It takes the shell of a enjoyable household automotive and injects one half race DNA and one half dirt-road DNA to create one thing new.

Ford says the Mach-E Rally will retail for “round $65,000,” with actual pricing introduced nearer to launch. The Mustang Mach-E Rally will probably be out there to buy in early 2024, with deliveries starting shortly afterward.

Reworked Suspension, Larger Experience

The brand new model sits practically an inch increased than inventory on a totally reworked suspension. MagneRide shocks and “specially-tuned” springs take in the bounces from 19-inch rally-style alloy wheels. Michelin CrossClimate2 tires stability effectivity and all-terrain grip and supply extra sidewall than the tires on the GT (so you possibly can air them down successfully for free surfaces).

A RallySport driving mode “permits for added yaw for greater slides, a linear throttle response for higher management, and extra aggressive damping for higher dealing with in free corners.”

It has restoration factors — the actual take a look at of whether or not a automotive is supposed to go off-road or simply look prepared — and rally-style fog lights the usual Mach-E doesn’t. The brakes are Brembo items and painted shiny pink to let you already know it. Protecting shielding protects each motors.

Sure, each. A tuned model of the powertrain from the GT means two motors – one per axle – for all-wheel drive (AWD). Ford says it’s “concentrating on not less than 650 lb-ft of torque and 480 horsepower,” which implies the specs aren’t ultimate but.

Daring Colours and Stripes for Everybody

You received’t be capable to disguise what you’re driving. Ford plans to construct it in daring colours like Eruption Inexperienced and Grabber Yellow (although white and grey are choices), and each Mach-E Rally will get a thick pair of black racing stripes.

The roof can be painted black, as are the entrance fascia plate that replaces the grille on a gas-powered automotive and the decrease physique moldings and entrance splitter. It wears what Ford calls “a dramatic rear spoiler that takes inspiration from the Focus RS,” a contender within the rally racing world that Ford doesn’t promote within the U.S.

Inside, gloss white accents make the Rally distinctive from different Mach-E fashions. The seatbacks are the identical gloss white.

Ought to you end up on an extraordinary freeway in your Mach-E Rally, Ford’s BlueCruise 1.3 hands-free freeway driving help can do a few of the driving for you on pre-mapped highways. It’s now able to altering lanes by itself.

One-of-a-Sort

The electrical off-roader house is sparsely populated, and the Mach-E Rally is exclusive inside it. It won’t be capable to crawl rocks with a Rivian R1T or a GMC Hummer EV. However it is going to outrun each on a gravel floor. And it’ll nonetheless provide the on a regular basis livability that earned final 12 months’s mannequin a KBB Greatest Purchase for its class.