KUALA LUMPUR: Developing a car is a tedious process that involves years of hard work. Now, double the commitment and effort, that’s the case with building an EV and that too a powerful one based on the Ford Mustang. We are talking about none other than the Mach-E, whose order books are now open.

Building an electric Mustang was a big challenge, however for the team styling it as a crossover was an even bigger task. In a recent presentation hosted by the Mach-E Forum, Jason Castriota (chief designer) and Chris Walter (design manager) explained the EVs entier development process, i.e., from initial idea to the final product.

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Here’s how Mach-E was developed -

• The design process started by identifying the essential elements that define a Mustang like a long hood, shark nose profile, strong rear fenders, rear-biased cabin, and three-bar taillights
• The generic shape of an electric crossover was also looked upon by the team, to decide what needs to be changed
• The Ford design team was unleashed with a general theme in mind
• Walter limited the concepts to 3 general themes as the process was going slow. It included - Further of Emotive Power, Pure + Minimal, and Current Mustang Design Language
• Out of the three themes, the Future of Emotive Power was picked, and it was then worked upon, making it production-ready

It was for the first time that the team presented sketches/design proposals to the management in virtual reality (VR). And this made the entire development pace of the Mach-E much faster, as tweaks cloud be done faster. According to Castriota, the final blueprint went from the digital form to full clay mold in just two days.

What’s interesting is that even after Mach-E’s debut, the engineering team kept on working the EV, making it better on the performance front. The Blue Oval company recently announced the EV came out even more powerful than it was originally announced. Depending on the model, the power output increased by 8 to 14 hp.

As mentioned earlier, Mach-E order books are open, and the car will go on sale in the U.S. by the end of 2020.

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