It started with a render. Not something that an employee at the Ford Motor Company presented in a meeting sandwiched between two PowerPoint pages about sales and potential sales. The inspiration came from an unknown Mach-E fan that decided to create an off-road version of the automaker's EV.
What Doug Field, Ford's chief advanced product development and technology officer, found on the internet inspired him. But even more impressive it made an impression of the automaker's CEO.
"It inspired Jim Farley, to say 'I need you guys to take a look at this and see what you can come up with,'" Mach-E chief engineer, Donna Dickson told TopSpeed during a recent interview.
From Inspiration To Goodwood
Dickson's small, passionate group began its quest in the middle of 2023 to create the Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally after being told "go create." By the end of the year, the team had come up with something to show the bosses and told the powers that be, they wanted to build it and show it off at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
"It's (the Mach-E Rally) is going to be in an area that can branch us (Ford) out. There really isn't an EV product out there in that space," Dickson said.
From the earliest meetings, the plan was that the Rally would be a production vehicle. Dickson said the Rally is based on the Mustang Mach-E GT although Ford hasn't divulged any power or range specs for the Mach-E Rally. We do know that the all-wheel-drive dual-motor Mach-E GT outputs 480 horsepower and up to 634 pound-feet of torque. How that translates to the Mach-E Rally is yet to be seen.
The vehicle driving up the hill at Goodwood is a fully capable prototype vehicle and the team is far from completing tweaks to make this a proper production vehicle for the masses. So maybe more, maybe less power, Ford isn't saying just yet.
Handling The Unpredictability Of Dirt
"I think a lot of it will be in the tuning of the suspension. The MangaRide really allows us to do more," Dickson said. "Having that suspension really, really enabled us and that's what we continue to further work on," the engineer continued.
The team will be fine-tuning the system over the next couple of months ahead of locking in a production vehicle ride. The most noticeable thing to those looking at the vehicle will be ride height. The team has to make sure the vehicle can ride over more terrain than its asphalt-tethered brethren. Then there's also the need to make sure the suspension has adequate travel to reduce jarring the vehicle.
That Off-Road Look
Ford is still keeping the vehicle slightly undercover. A black and white wrap serves to obscure some body adjustments made to the Mach-E. Yet even with an obscured view of the body, there's clearly a larger gap between the wheels and fender wheels. It's outfitted with off-road tires and a more solid wheel. Two fog lights were added to the front fascia and of course, there's the clearly visible red tow hook up front. We all get stuck eventually while off roading.
It looks the part of a rally vehicle although it's unlikely you'll see this Mustang in the WRC leaping over a hill anytime soon. Dickson notes that it's rally-inspired, not really a rally racing machine. There's still that battery pack and while EVs are quick off the line, that weight will slow it down over the course of a track.
The First Of Many Upcoming Mach-E Trims
If you're not a fan of the rally-inspired Mach-E, just wait, other variants of the Mach-E are coming.
"I'm excited. We see other competitors in this space that are not EVs and that's what we're looking to see what else we can do after this. Let's get this one out and see if we can make it more available and a little bit different," Dickson said.
Those upcoming trim levels could also result in different price points which means, maybe just maybe a less expensive EV from the blue oval.
Ford clearly seems willing to experiment with the Mach-E. If a quick SUV doesn't interest some customers maybe an off-road beast will bring them into the showroom. What helps is the Ford Mustang brand. You can disagree about whether the Mach-E is a true Mustang. It really doesn't matter because that name has power and Ford will leverage it to excite more potential customers about EVs.
The leadership at Ford is just waiting for inspiration and sometimes that comes directly from the people that feel like they know Ford best, the customers.