If you’ve been waiting to buy a Ford Mustang Mach-E, now might be the right time to do so. The Detroit Free Press reports that Ford is cutting prices across a fair chunk of the Mustang Mach-E lineup. While a revamped supply chain and increased production capacity are cited as chief reasons, part of this price adjustment seems to come in response to Tesla price cuts and tax credits offered through the Inflation Reduction Act.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Ford is bolstering its EV supply chain to increase production and pass some savings on to consumers. This makes a lot of sense, as bulk component orders typically get cheaper per unit as the quantity grows, allowing Ford to take better advantage of economies of scale. Price cuts should better position the Mustang Mach-E against competitors like the Tesla Model Y. As Ford Model e (that’s Ford’s electric vehicle divison) chief customer officer Marin Gjaja put it in the aforementioned Detroit Free Press piece, “We’ve been planning to adjust for [the Inflation Reduction Act]. And obviously our competitors are also adjusting their prices. … We’re having to respond.”
Discounts go as follows: The base-model Select RWD sees a $900 price cut to $47,295; the Select eAWD sees a $600 price cut to $50,295; the Premium RWD sees a $3,980 price cut to $52,295; the range-optimized California Route 1 sees a $5,580 price cut to $59,295; the GT trim sees a $5,900 price cut to $65,295; and the extended range battery pack sees its price drop $1,600 from $8,600 to $7,000. As ever, all trim level prices include freight charges, in this case coming to $1,300.
Interestingly, Ford is retroactively applying the discounts to qualifying Mach-E customers who bought their cars after Jan. 1, as well as current reservation holders. It’s an uncommon strategy that should avoid some of the backlash Tesla faced after slashing prices.
What’s more, Ford says Mustang Mach-E demand currently outstrips supply. The order banks for last year’s model closed in April, and Ford is currently quoting lead times of 18 to 22 weeks for 2023 Mustang Mach-E models. This means that if you order one right now, you probably won’t see it until June or July. In addition, according to the Detroit Free Press, Mach-E production is currently offline as Ford makes factory adjustments to up the production rate. The Cuautitlán plant in Mexico is expected to start back up sometime in the first quarter, with plans to go from producing 78,000 cars per year to 130,000. “We think we can stretch that even further over time,” said Gjaja, a promising outlook for the model’s future.
Cutting prices while demand is high and supply is low sounds unorthodox, but it may be necessary when a key rival has slashed prices considerably. A Tesla Model Y long-range AWD now starts at $54,800 including a $1,390 freight charge, so straddling that line could be a way to keep Ford Mustang Mach-E demand up. In addition, keeping more Mach-E trims priced below the vehicle’s $55,000 car-class cutoff for federal tax credits should keep things competitive as a $7,500 tax credit appeals to a lot of EV buyers. A Mustang Mach-E Select RWD could be as cheap as $39,795 after the tax credit is factored in, assuming the credits apply (If you want more details, I’d recommend checking out this excellent article by Kevin Williams breaking down this confusing aspect of the new tax credit). In addition, increased production rate should speed up delivery times, putting more Mach-Es into more driveways. While not every Mach-E trim level sees a discount, certain models getting cheaper is something we can appreciate, especially given the sky high car prices we’re seeing right now.
(Photo credits: Ford)
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If only people knew that those who had real mustangs think the Mach-E is a joke.
I had multiple mustangs, including a Cobra. Wouldnt be seen dead in a Mach-E though.
We got new neighbours across the street who, after a week in their new house, swapped their Mercedes wagon for a Mach E. They’re quite rare here in Ireland – it’s only the second I’ve seen. But it’s right in my line of sight from my home office and I really don’t like being able to see it. The styling is jarring, to say the least. And I think my new neighbours might be fucking “influencers”.
Couldn’t care less…I live here in semi-rural Nova Scotia (not THAT rural, but not metro…) and pretty much all EVs are way out of a lot of people’s financial reach unless they want to spend too much to finance….even with government incentives.
They need to bring the prices down a LOT more than that.
Local dealerships here in Los Angeles are still asking a small fortune over MSRP for the Mach-E. If you save a bit from the manufacturer but you’re still being asked to pay $2500 to $15,000 (hahahahahahaha) over retail, what’s the point?
Wow. So that’s like four cartons of eggs cheaper.
It’s still too expensive even with the cuts
The Chey Equinox EV is hitting this year at around $30k starting and $44k fully loaded. So, pricing pressure is going to continue.
Tesla strikes again. Putting more EV’s in driveways is a good thing.
If Ford is losing money on production, they can make it back later by analyzing the terabytes of data and figuring out which corners can be cut on the second generation.
Thinking this weekend about one of our our perennial favorite topics wrt this vehicle, I’m beginning to wonder if having called it a Mustang may be hurting its sales with its target demographic?
I get what Ford was thinking (though I personally disagree), but I wonder if there’s really a ton of buyers seeking an EV with a “Mustang edge” vs. those who want the mojo of a more affordable Tesla/better looking Bolt? They’re basically crossover shoppers, right, so do they really value the Mustang ethos?
Thinking back, naming the new sedan Taurus seems in retrospect to have been a much better idea than calling it the LTD Advance or similar. Conveyed the newness of it, which went with the styling…
They should have revived the Crown Vic nameplate except shortened it to just Victoria.
If it existed and I could afford it I would totally get an EVExpedition
What I find interesting is this statement on a different site from Gjaja, a Ford exec.
“Mustang Mach-E is not profitable and it’s not going to be profitable, although by trim series it does vary a little bit,”…
He goes on to say they want to be more profitable, but I assume he must be talking about a few select trims. I wonder just how much longer Ford is going to prop up their EVs before the quality goes to pot or they cut unprofitable lines, like they did with sedans and coupes. Get your Mustangs, err, Mach-Es while you can.
According to the article below, costs of building the Mach e increased 25k per car last year.
https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/15/amid-recalls-ford-says-costs-to-build-mustang-mach-e-are-skyrocketing/
I wonder how much they lose on each car.
It’s also important to understand why it isn’t profitable. If it’s strictly input vs output on each vehicle + (original vehicle specific R&D/expected production #), that’s awful. If it’s profitable on that first metric but unprofitable because of long term infrastructure upgrades, multi-line R&D and other extended costs, that’s not necessarily bad.
Yeah, companies can mean a lot of things when they say they’re taking a loss on something. I strongly suspect that the Mach-E is taking a big profit hit on expanding their EV lines, so it’s really more reinvestment than loss. Ford seems like they are being really reactive here and trying to play catch up. I suspect that they’ll expand their EV manufacturing capabilities and their electric lineup around the same time and suddenly have a variety of profitable models.
True, although I’m struggling to explain how costs for R&D or infrastructure could suddenly have jumped 25k per car for something that’s already in production. Unless they’re rolling in next-gen R&D to the current car, which would be approximately as disingenous as what people did when costing the Volt way back when.
Probably not the next-gen R&D as much as rolling in overall manufacturing capacity increases into a vehicle that could very well be phased out or onto a second iteration before that capacity is fully online. Though they could also be rolling in some or all of the development of an EV platform that they can easily build a variety of vehicles on, under the guise of it being based on the Mach-E platform.
Ford has a bunch of very smart accountants who can probably finesse a lot of numbers to ensure that everything looks as good or bad on paper as helps them in the moment. “Hey, we are going to take a loss on these vehicles to ensure that more customers can drive them” turns into “We’ve ramped up production so that the next gen of EVs will be very profitable, plus we brought potential customers to the brand who may want the latest and greatest” when it’s time to talk to shareholders.