Ford Mustang Mach-E trademarked in Australia

Ford Australia has quietly trademarked the ‘Mustang Mach-E’ and ‘Mach-E’ nameplates Down Under, meaning the all-electric SUV may have finally been given the green light for our market.

Speculation and rumours of the Ford Mustang Mach-E’s local introduction have been swirling since the ground-breaking battery-powered crossover was revealed in November 2019.

The same month chief engineer Ron Heiser sensationally revealed to carsales that the Mach-E would be built in both left- and right-hand drive for markets including Australia.

The Blue Oval’s local division stayed tight-lipped on the matter even after the Mach-E was launched in RHD markets including the UK, but our sources said a local launch would follow once demand had been satisfied in major markets including the US and Europe. The Mach-E is produced in Mexico and, since December 2021, in China for China.

After axing its plan to introduce the Mondeo plug-in hybrid here, Ford Australia said it would begin its electrification journey with the now repeatedly delayed Ford Escape PHEV.

But in October last year it announced it would launch a minimum of five electrified vehicles by the end of 2024, including the Escape PHEV as well as E-Transit delivery van, which will likely be the brand’s first zero-emissions vehicle offered here.

At the time, Ford Australia boss Andrew Birkic said the Mustang Mach-E was “unavailable” due to its sell-out popularity in Europe and North America.

Two months later in December, however, Ford HQ in Dearborn announced it would triple Mach-E production to more than 200,000 units per annum by the end of 2022.

The announcement was made on Twitter by Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Farley, who stipulated the production increase was specific to North America and Europe.

Given these fresh trademarks, it seems Australia could finally be on the list too, even if the LHD-only Bronco, Maverick and F-150 Lightning remain off-limits here.

Both of the local trademark applications – one for ‘MACH-E’ and the other for ‘MUSTANG MACH-E’ – were filed with IP Australia this week (January 25) under Goods and Services Class 12 (motor vehicles, electric motor vehicles and their parts).

Of course, Ford could simply be seeking to protect the Mach-E name in Australia – more than two years after it was announced in the US – and neither filing was for a stylised logo.

But it seems Ford Australia is at least laying the groundwork for the Mach-E’s arrival Down Under, with the badging and other details likely to come later, even if it could be a while away from Aussie dealerships.

Given a mild MY22 update was recently announced in North America for the Mach-E (pictured here in white) and the E-Transit arrives here around mid-2022, think late 2022 or 2023 at the earliest.

Officially, however, Ford Australia told carsales the zero-emissions SUV remains “unavailable to us” and that the trademark application was “not necessarily an indication of new branding, badging or product plans” – even though all the dots are beginning to line up.

For the unfamiliar, the Mustang Mach-E is available Stateside in both single-motor rear-wheel drive and dual-motor all-wheel drive configurations and with outputs of 198kW/430Nm and 358kW/860Nm.

Depending on the variant, the driving range is as high as 610km (WLPT) and the 0-100km/h acceleration time as low as 3.7sec (GT).

As we speculated in May 2021, the Mach-E is most likely to become Ford Australia’s first dedicated EV, but other electrified models that could be a possibility for local market release by 2024 include the new-generation Ford Ranger hybrid ute and the Chinese-focused Ford Mondeo Evos fastback crossover.

While the long-awaited Escape PHEV will finally give Ford a direct rival for Australia’s top-selling SUV and most popular hybrid vehicle, the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, models like the Ranger hybrid and Mach-E would also compete in the nation’s top two new-vehicle sales segments – utes and SUVs.