The electric Ford Mustang Mach-E outsold the two-door Mustang for the first time in 2024 and now it’s moving in on its sibling’s turf. Ford has built an electric NASCAR prototype with the Mustang Mach-E body.
It’s a new take on NASCAR’s electric prototype race car that debuted last year, which wore a generic design.
Ford didn’t simply rebody the original, however, the Ford Performance NASCAR operation built an all-new car in house, program manager Joel Weidman told American Cars And Racing.
The car features the same NASCAR-developed chassis, which is a modified version of the seventh-generation Cup Series car that’s been equipped with an all-wheel drive system that features three electric motors with a maximum combined output of 1,300 hp.
Read Also: ELECTRIC NASCAR RACING? RICHARD PETTY SAYS HE WON’T ‘LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO SEE THAT’
Its 78 kWh battery pack has enough juice for 30-45 minutes of full throttle driving, depending on the circuit. Short oval tracks are potentially its ideal playground, because there is a lot of braking that can be used to recharge the battery.
The SUV-style design is very different from the cars and trucks NASCAR currently fields and includes a large sports car style wing sticking out of the rear window. NASCAR demonstrated its vehicle at a couple of tracks with development driver David Ragan behind the wheel, but has made it clear that it doesn’t plan to launch an all-electric racing series anytime soon. Ford will follow suit with its vehicle with hot laps at various venues that it hopes will connect with fans.
While all-electric racing likely isn’t in the cards in the foreseeable future, the SUV styling could potentially find its way into NASCAR. Ford is the only current manufacturer that builds a production two-door with a front-mounted V8 engine. The NASCAR Camry is designed to look like a coupe, which Toyota doesn’t sell, and Chevrolet has discontinued the Camaro without replacing it. All of them sell compact and midsize SUVs.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE AMERICAN CARS AND RACING YOUTUBE CHANNEL
Crossover SUVs are the most popular vehicles in the U.S. today, but whether or not that means they’d be popular NASCAR race cars is yet to be seen.