Ford has finally shed some light on the extent of the delays it is experiencing when it rolled out its first electric car on the mass market, the Mustang Mach-E SUV. After the company announced Wednesday that it had shipped 3,739 Mustang Mach-Es in February – the first full month of deliveries – he said The edge in a statement that approximately 4,500 customers will have to wait longer than expected to receive the electric sport utility vehicle.
The carmaker did not specifically say what caused the delay, but only that it was holding back the electric Mustangs ‘as part of our commitment to deliver a quality vehicle to customers.’ Ford said earlier in January it was delaying delivery of several hundred of them for quality checks.
To compensate for the delay, Ford gives affected customers an extra 250kWh of charge at stations in the company’s FordPass Charging Network. (Buyers of the Mustang Mach-E have already received 250kWh for free as a promotion.) Ford also says that it will ‘cover the first month’s payment’ – up to $ 1,000 – ‘for about 250 customers who receive long delays in receiving of their Mustang Mach-E. The news about this accommodation bubbled up in a Mach-E forum for the first time on Tuesday.
Ford is not alone in experiencing problems with the launch of an EV. Earlier this week, The edge first reported that Volvo is holding a number of XC40 recharge SUVs in U.S. ports to send a software update before the electric vehicles arrive at customers. Volkswagen also experienced problems last year during the launch of its ID 3 mass market EV due to a software problem.
Ford also had trouble implementing a new version of the Explorer in 2019, which led to a stir in the company’s executive ranks that was a precursor to Jim Farley replacing Jim Hackett as CEO.