Demand for Tesla competitor Ford Mustang Mach-E is extreme.
STAVANGER (Nettavisen Økonomi:) Simen Haave (44) jogs around in the heat at Kverneland Bil. A little sweaty and tired. Gives and receives messages left and right. Receives at least three phone calls during the ten minutes he can talk to Nettavisen’s correspondent.
– An incredible number of cars came in at once, and we just want to get the cars out as quickly as possible. We have been on from morning to night in recent weeks. The mechanics, administration and sales people have worked overtime every day to deliver to all customers who are waiting, says Haave, who is Ford’s sales manager for electric cars at Kverneland Bil.
The Ford Mustang Mach-E was Norway’s by far the best-selling car in May this year. Every day, 45 new cars of this type rolled on Norwegian roads in May. In total, Norwegians bought 1,384 new Mustang Mach-E last month. There are 531 more cars than the next model on the list, the rechargeable hybrid Toyota RAV4.
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Normally, Haave and his colleagues deliver between 15 and 20 cars from Ford a month, and around the same number of vans. In ten days last month, the small sales group delivered a total of 64 Mustang Mach-E cars.
– I have worked here for seven years now, and have never experienced similar pressure. The attention increased considerably when we got some of the cars in for viewing in May. My guess is that the interest will be even greater when people see the car on the roads, says Ford sales manager Petter Klemsdal at Kverneland Bil.
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Major investment
The electric car has a range of up to 610 kilometers and has the option of four-wheel drive. People have been on the waiting list for several months to get the car, which is described as a long-awaited model for Joe Biden and his plan to electrify the US car market.
But the electric car is also very important and long-awaited for Ford, the world’s fifth largest car manufacturer. Ford CEO Jim Farley describes the model as it is first real competitor to Tesla in the mass market. Ford salesman Haave thinks many Tesla owners will be tempted by the newcomer.
– We will not just be a competitor to Tesla. Electric car customers are the least loyal customers I have met. They jump from one to the other. We have customers who switch to Mach-E from both Tesla X and Nissan Leaf. When a car costs between 400,000 and 600,000 and in addition is an SUV, you cover so many needs, says Haave and continues:
– People are not brand loyal anymore. Before, you bought a Ford because you were a Ford man. But now people want the latest and greatest. And whether you’re young or old, you know what a Mustang is, and we’re making money now.
The 118-year-old company has said that they will invest NOK 241 billion in electric and self-driving cars by 2025, of which most of the funds will be set aside for electric cars. Ford produces the electric cars in Mexico and China, and has sent thousands of cars by ship to Norway in the last month. Deliveries will continue in the coming months.
– We notice that people have high expectations and that many have been waiting since November 2019. Customers know a lot about the car already when they pick it up. Much more than what is normal, says sales manager Klemsdal.
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– On the verge of blasphemy
What to do when hundreds of customers want the car they bought many months ago now?
Normally it takes about an hour for Haave, Klemsdal and colleagues to deliver a car that has been sold. Kverneland Bil sellers say that many customers get frustrated when they see the car they are waiting for at the dealer and on the road.
An effective measure has been to make a delivery video that customers are sent to, where Kverneland sales people take the customer through all the functionalities the electric car has to offer. The invention was actually an infection control measure to avoid sitting in the same car as the customers. In a mildly hectic period, it has also become an effective way to cut down on time spent per customer without sacrificing service.
– It makes the whole process both easier and better, because now customers can only go back to the video if they are wondering about something later, says Haave.
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That customers have high expectations is perhaps not so strange. “Everyone” has heard of the Ford Mustang, and many will try the electric variant – which does not really have much in common with the classic:
“Making an all-electric Mustang is on the verge of blasphemy – not least when they have produced it as an SUV. The Mustangs are known for roaring engines – not for converting direct current to alternating current… They have taken an idea that is inconceivable to many, to fiddle with what a Mustang is, and they have made it the flagship of a billion lift to make electric cars mainstream » , write The Verge.
Influential Business Insider believes Ford’s investment is a stroke of genius:
«98 per cent of the future annual car sales have not yet taken place, and that the next wave of cars must stand out. Mach-E does this in more ways than one. I simply did not get enough of it ».
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