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.]