Lucas Bell 
The Mustang Mach-E might be an electric SUV from an American company, but the Europeans seems to be beating the Yankees to the punch when it comes to getting the scoops about the hot-topic electric vehicle. First it was the Greeks telling us that the Mustang Coupe is likely next for electrification, and now Britain’s EVO Magazine has reported that the Mach-E will spawn a high performance variant beyond the GT. A Shelb-E, if you will. If you can believe that.
The big news comes from an interview with Ford Performance chief programme engineer Ed Krenz, who told EVO that he’s looking forward to “the challenge of applying the Shelby characteristics” to an electric car.
What does that mean? Krenz eludes to the Mustang Mach-E Shelby being able to withstand the abuses of a full day on the race track, and that of course means figuring out a robust battery pack and quick/reliable charging.
A Ford marketing executive once told us that Carroll Shelby said “performance is my business,” and not “gasoline performance is my business.” While that may be true, we’re having a hard time agreeing that the late great Shelby would stand for his name on an electric crossover.
At launch, the most capable performance variant will be the 2021 Mustang Mach-E GT, which will heavily undercut the Tesla Model X in price, at $60,500, and utilize all-wheel drive to achieve a sub-4-second 0-60 time with an estimated 250-mile range. However, it’s understood that it’s not meant for track duty. The base model is slated to start at a reasonable $43,895, with 230 miles of range and a “mid-five-second” 0-60 acceleration time. Then there’s the aptly named “California Route 1” variant, which delivers the best range in the lineup, at 300 miles, while the acceleration (six seconds 0-60) is the slowest. That’s just over $52,000. Again, before incentives.
