- ford builds the mustang at two plants, with the gas model being made in michigan and the electric mach-e coming from mexico.
- so far in 2021, the production numbers are clear: 27,816 mach-es and 26,089 gas-powered mustangs.
- the ice mustang still outsells the mach-e by around 3 to 1 in the u.s., but that's not the case in ev-forward places like norway.
if you're looking for yet one more sign that the automotive industry is making a shift to electric vehicles, look no further than ford's 2021 production numbers. so far this year, ford has built more electric mustang mach-e crossovers than gas-powered mustang coupe and convertible models.
ford builds vehicles with the mustang name in two locations. gas-powered mustang two-doors are made at the flat rock assembly plant in michigan. the electric mustang mach-e crossover is built at the cuautitlan stamping and assembly plant in mexico. as first reported by bloomberg, through the end of may, ford built 27,816 mach-es and 26,089 standard mustangs. the mach-e was introduced last year, so this is the first time ford has made more electric than gas ones.
these are global production figures, not sales numbers, of course. but ford is seeing strong mach-e sales in other countries, especially norway, which has long been a leader in ev sales thanks to strong government incentives. those incentives helped the mach-e become the best-selling vehicle in norway may, which was the first full month the ev was available there. the mach-e sold 1384 units in norway last month, about 10 percent of all vehicles sold there. second and third place were held by plug-in vehicles as well, with the toyota rav4 hybrid and the skoda enyaq taking second and third place, respectively.
in the u.s., ford sold 1945 electrified mustangs and 4436 gas-powered ones in may. for the first five months of 2020, ford sold 10,510 mach-es and 29,710 gas-powered mustangs. in california, which has the strongest ev support laws in the u.s., one out of every four mustangs sold last month was a mach-e. no matter where the mach-e is being offered, ford said the mustang mach-e "is essentially selling as soon as it hits dealer showrooms," given the short, 10-day average turn time.
"we are really excited about the success that we are having with our launch of the all-new mustang mach-e, not just here in america, but globally too," a ford sales analyst, erich merkle, told bloomberg in an emailed statement. "to be fair, please keep in mind that mustang and flat rock have been impacted by outside factors, which has been the semiconductor chip shortage."
whatever the causes are for ford to build more plug-in mustangs than gas-powered ponies, this likely won't be the last time this happens. ford has made strong claims about it electrified future, and plans to offer 40 electrified vehicles globally by 2022, with 16 of those fully electric and the other 24 being plug-in hybrids. ford's ev plans are strong in europe, where ford expects all of its passenger vehicles to be all-electric by 2030.