If the past few months have taught us anything, it’s that the times — as the most curmudgeonly winner in the history of the Nobel Prize once said — well, they are a changin’.
Case in point: yesterday, Ford announced that as part of a $4.5 billion investment in clean vehicles, they plan to release at least 13 electrified models over the next five years, including hybrid versions of the F-150 pickup and the Mustang.
Both of those models will be available in the U.S. by 2020, and Ford says the F-150 “will offer powerful towing and payload capacity and operate as a mobile generator,” while the Mustang “will deliver V8 power and even more low-end torque.”
Neither one, it appears, will be a plug-in.
The bold moves reflect Ford’s view that “global offerings of electrified vehicles will exceed gasoline-powered vehicles within the next 15 years,” said company president Mark Fields. If that prediction ends up being correct, it will be better for us all, so we applaud Ford for staying ahead of the curve … we’re just nervous about our beloved Mustangs ending up fenced in.
That said, until the new models come out, we’ll reserve judgement and give Ford’s new tech the benefit of the doubt. After all, “he who gets hurt, will be he who has stalled.”
Brave new world.
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