Ford delivered the first Mustang Mach-E vehicles on December 26 to owners who reserved the model at the Shanghai Auto Show in late April.
(Image credit: Ford)
Ford officially unveiled the locally produced Mustang Mach-E electric vehicle (EV) in China in April, and after months of waiting, the model has finally begun delivering to its first buyers.
Changan Ford, Ford's joint venture in China, delivered the Mustang Mach-E to the first consumers at two stores in Shanghai on December 26, after the owners reserved the model at the Shanghai Auto Show in late April.
The Ford Mustang Mach-E was launched in China on April 13 and was available for pre-order at the time in the price range of RMB 265,000 ($41,600) to RMB 379,000, competing primarily with the Tesla Model Y.
The first production vehicles of the China-made Mustang Mach-E rolled off the production line on October 18 at a plant in the city of Chongqing in southwestern China.
Local media reported that Ford delivered the first Mustang Mach-Es primarily in a rear-drive, long-range version with a guide price of RMB 309,900.
Ford is offering an eight-year or 160,000-kilometer warranty to the first Mustang Mach-E owners and a free Ford Co-Pilot360 assisted driving upgrade package worth RMB 15,000 to those who order the car by December 31, 2021.
The Mustang Mach-E supports feature optimization through OTA updates like other mainstream smart EVs, and Ford plans to start offering OTA upgrades to the vehicles in the first quarter of next year.
Mark Kaufman, general manager of Ford's electric vehicle business unit in China, said Changan Ford has also launched Blue Carefree after-sales service to provide Chinese customers with services including appointments, maintenance and car use.
Ford has not yet started building its own charging network in China, saying Mustang Mach-E owners can use supercharging stations from 25 companies, including State Grid, Teld, Star Charge and Nio, through an app.
These third-party charging stations provide a cumulative total of 400,000 charging piles, including 260,000 DC fast charging piles, covering 349 cities and more than 80 percent of public charging resources in China, Ford said.
Ford's EV division will also work with State Grid to enable a plug-in-and-charge experience at the latter's 45,000 charging piles, according to the company.
Notably, the China-made Mustang Mach-E was anticipated by many, but previous reports indicate that some reservation holders canceled their orders due to long wait times.
Autostinger reported in a November story that a Mr. Zhao they interviewed was told by sales he could get delivery in October when he reserved six months ago, but that never became a reality. He backed out of his order and purchased another model before his license plate quota was about to expire.
A Mustang Mach-E store in Beijing opened in April, but sales were anxious and turnover was high due to the lack of vehicle deliveries, the report said.
In group chats where some of the reservation holders were, some posted screenshots of their backed-out orders and began suggesting others buy a Tesla Model Y or Zeekr 001.
Further Reading: Why some Chinese consumers are canceling orders for Ford Mustang Mach-E
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