Rally-focused Ford Mustang Mach-E teased

Ford Performance has released a surprise teaser clip of a new hard-core Ford Mustang Mach-E variant ahead of its global debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on Friday (July 14).

Posted to pretty much all of Ford’s core social media channels, the 35-second video shows a vibrantly camouflaged Mach-E swarming all over the back of a Mustang Mach-E GT and a lesser grade around a track and up the fabled Goodwood hill climb course before peeling off and opening the taps along gravel lanes.

Hit the pause button at just the right time and you’ll catch glimpses of vehicle’s unique front grille, rally-style wheels, chunky tyres, mud flaps and scrape-friendly black wheel-arches.

There’s no obvious increase in ride height that we can ascertain from the clip, but it’s clear the new Mach-E variant will have a softer suspension set-up than the road-focused versions judging by the way it soaks up the rugged lumps and bumps of English country lanes.

“A new member of our iconic Mustang family is coming this Friday at Festival of Speed,” the video caption reads.

This is the first time Ford has indicated any sort of new Mach-E variant is on the horizon, but it isn’t the first time the notion of an off-roading Mustang has been thrown around…

In April carsales reported that Ford was supposedly looking into the prospect of a high-riding, all-paw Mustang Raptor created in the ilk of the Lamborghini Sterrato and Porsche 911 Dakar, ahead of a possible release around mid-decade.

Ford has been predictably tight-lipped on the matter but now it seems like a Mustang Raptor may be on the cards far sooner than everybody thought, albeit in battery-powered Mach-E guise.

A Ford Mustang Mach-E Raptor would feasibly be a much easier undertaking for the Blue Oval, given the starting point for the project is already a high-riding all-wheel drive wagon-like vehicle as opposed to a low-slung rear-drive coupe.

The video doesn’t reveal whether the mystery vehicle has been treated to any powertrain upgrades compared to the standard Mach-E variants that will become available in Australia by the end of this year, but it’d be fair to assume the Raptor badge will be accompanied by more performance.

Of course, it’s possible the new Mach-E derivative isn’t a Raptor and could debut some other rally or off-road-inspired nameplate – we’ll just have to wait and see.

The new model will be shown in the First Glance paddock at Goodwood on July 14, before being rocketed up the hill climb course by Ford WRC driver Adrien Fourmaux, rally driver Ott Tänak and racer Harry Tincknell.

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