Mustang Mach-E Drawing New Customers to Ford Showrooms

by Matthew Guy

December 3rd, 2019 3:54 PM

mustang mach e drawing new customers to ford showrooms

Plenty of digital ink has been spilled on the new Mustang Mach-E, from Ford’s decision of saddling it with a pony car name to questions around who’s going to buy the thing. Just over two weeks since its introduction, we at least have an answer to the latter.

The gearheads at The Detroit News ran a story this morning about the Mach-E’s ability to pull new customers into Ford showrooms, citing a conversation they had with suits at San Tan Ford outside of Phoenix. Your author decided to go one step further, calling up what’s touted as the #1 Ford dealer in the world to see if the findings were a one-off anomaly.

They aren’t.

Galpin Ford has its fingers in just about every Blue Oval pie, from Roush to Shelby to teaming up with Henrik Fisker (yes, that Fisker) to create the 725hp Galpin Rocket Mustang. Your author is partial to this RTR Ranger.

But back to the Mach-E. With a starting MSRP of $43,895 and reservations commanding a mere $500, getting in line for the ElectroStang is easy. We spoke with Ruben Correa, a veteran of the sales staff at Galpin with a dozen years of moving Dearborn metal under his belt. As it turns out, his store is experiencing the same type of traffic on Mach-E as the dealer cited in the The Detroit News article .

“About half of the people asking about Mustang Mach-E are new to Ford,” said Correa. “They’re definitely interested in a full-electric powertrain, plus the design of the vehicle.” Galpin has been fielding plenty of calls and have taken deposits on the model. They’ve even added a Reserve Yours button to the header of their website, such is demand.

Correa addressed the elephant in the room — namely Ford’s choice to put the Mustang name on an all-electric crossover. “Skepticism exists in some people,” he said “But the 0-60 times are impressive.” The man has a point; something that can scamper to 60mph in the mid-three second range is no slouch in the performance arena.

Back in Arizona, the owner and GM of San Tan Ford said to DN that about two of every three Mach-E reservations are from people with whom he’s never done business. This, and the news from Galpin, bodes well for Ford. Any company likes new customers, after all, but coming off reports that many former Fiesta and Focus customers are not transitioning to EcoSport (surprise, surprise) and instead seeking their compact car fit elsewhere, this has to feel like a win for the Blue Oval.

This reservation system has another bonus: it gives Ford a heads up as to the parts of this country in which the Mach-E is most popular before the thing even hits the ground. Company spox figure production will be limited to around 50,000 units in the first year, thanks to constraints on battery supply. That number is nothing to sneeze at, especially if the majority of them are sold to brand-new customers.

[Images: Ford Motor Co.]

#Electric #Ford #GalpinFord #MachE #Mustang #MustangMach-E #Sales

Comments

Join the conversation

3 of 56 comments

Cprescott on Dec 04, 2019

I can assure you that this former Ford owner of 39 years will not set foot in a Ford dealership again even if they were giving away cars for free. The company chickened out and sold itself to the devil (a bald headed one) and I want nothing to do with this. If and when I go electric, it will be from Hyundai. I get why they pimped out their Mustang. What else do they have of any value to pimp?

Like Reply
- Dave M. on Dec 04, 2019
  
  "The company chickened out and sold itself to the devil (a bald headed one) and I want nothing to do with this." Who or what are you referring to?
  
  Like
Namstrap on Dec 04, 2019

I don't remember a FWD Mustang II. A girl I knew had a black one back then, RWD, and I think it was based on a Pinto platform. Could be wrong there. The Probe was designed by Mazda for Ford and based on a 626 coupe. I remember at the time Ford wanted a lower cowl, and Mazda had to put bulges on the hood to clear the strut towers.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

VoGhost I'm clearly in the minority here, but I think this is a smart move. Apple is getting very powerful, and has slowly been encroaching on the driving experience over the last decade. Companies like GM were on the verge of turning into mere hardware vendors to the Apple brand. "Is that a new car; what did you get?" "I don't remember. But it has the latest Apple OS, which is all I care about." Taking back the driving experience before it was too late might just be GM's smartest move in a while.
VoGhost Can someone Christian explain to me what this has to do with Jesus and bunnies?
Del My father bought GM cars in the 60's, but in 1971 he gave me a used Datsun (as they were called back then), and I'm now in my 70's and am happy to say that GM has been absent from my entire adult life. This article makes me gladder than ever.
TheEndlessEnigma That's right GM, just keep adding to that list of reasons why I will never buy your products. This, I think, becomes reason number 69, right after OnStar-Cannot-Be-Disabled-And-It-Comes-Standard-Whether-Or-Not-You-Want-It and Screw-You-American-Car-Buyer-We-Only-Make-Trucks-And-SUVs.
3SpeedAutomatic Does this not sound and feel like the dawn of ICE automobiles in the early 20th century, but at double or triple speed speed!!There were a bunch of independent car markers by the late 1910’s. By the mid 20’s, we were dropping down to 10 or 15 producers as Henry was slashing the price of the Model T. The Great Depression hit, and we are down to the big three and several independents. For EVs, Tesla bolted out of the gate, the small three are in a mad dash to keep up. Europe was caught flat footed due to the VW scandal. Lucid, Lordstown, & Rivian are scrambling to up production to generate cash. Now the EV leader has taken a page from the Model T and is slashing prices putting the rest of the EV market in a tail spin. Deja vu……