Whether Ford's decision to expand Flat Rock - rather than build a new factory in Mexico - is a direct result of President-elect Trump's plans is up for debate, but one thing is for certain: a
hybrid Mustang
It will be part of Ford's "major EV push" over the next five years, with 13 electrified vehicles coming and seven already confirmed. The idea is to focus (no pun intended) electrification on Ford's "areas of strength" - the cars that already sell well, basically - to make the move to hybrids more popular. So alongside the Mustang will be a Transit plug-in hybrid, a fully electric SUV, a hybrid Lincoln Continental, an autonomous vehicle "for commercial ride hailing", a pair of hybrid pursuit vehicles and an F-150 Hybrid. Seriously. Make America great again, right?
Naturally little is known about the Mustang just yet, however Ford promises a hybrid "that will deliver V8 power and even more low-end torque." While Ford has also confirmed that the utility vehicles will be its first to use Ecoboost engines with electric assistance (rather than naturally aspirated ones), the Mustang's combustion motor is unconfirmed. How much smaller can the four-cylinder option go?
The hybrid F-150 will be built at Dearborn, with the rest of the electrified models to be made at Flat Rock. Yes, the very factory that was shut down recently through lack of demand. How so? Because instead of investing $1.6 billion at the San Luis Potosi plant in Mexico, Ford will instead spend $700 million expanding Flat Rock and create 700 jobs in the process. Hmm. Ford says this is part of its company expansion, with an aim to be "leading in electrified and autonomous vehicles and providing new mobility solutions."
... and add a bit of this for Mustang Hybrid
Alongside the cars, Ford will also be extending its EV charging network - that European
memorandum of understanding
will be matched by new US charge points too. It's rather more than just one new car, basically.
Some stats, finally, albeit Ford stats from Ford owners. From 33,000 EV owners and 58 million unique trips, it was discovered that 92 per cent of pure EV customers would buy another one and 87 per cent of plug-in hybrid drivers would do the same. So perhaps the future isn't so bleak after all.
Ford will initially offer the hybrid Mustang in the States, with no confirmation yet of it reaching Europe. Would you be in the queue for one?