Ford Preps Dealerships for Massive Mach-E Depreciation

The new Mach-E can accelerate to 60 miles per hour in around three seconds. The only thing faster, unfortunately, is its rate of depreciation.

Ford’s press releases about the Mach-E – their Mustang-badged, all-electric “performance” crossover – have been universally positive. Enthusiast response, on the other hand, has not.

Outside of the realm of tech bloggers (and auto writers who wish they were), the Mach-E looks to be a curious case of branding suicide. Back in the late 1980s, Ford threatened to use the Mustang badge on a Japanese-built, front-wheel-drive car. Mustang fans staged a massive letter-writing campaign, and Ford decided to keep the Mustang, well, a Mustang, and the new car became the Probe.

The Mustang has remained a perennial bestseller and favorite and, going forward, it will be the only actual car sold by Ford in the US. Clearly, the Mustang nameplate has value, but apparently, nobody at Ford is old enough to remember the Probe debacle. In this writer’s opinion, they’re clearly willing to devalue the Mustang’s image for any possible short-term gain they can get their hands on. But I digress.

High Performance, Low Residual Value

Speaking of devaluing, the projected lease residuals for the Mach-E show that Ford doesn’t have quite as much faith in the new car as previously thought. According to Inside EVs, the Mach-E is projected to retain a paltry 39% of its value after just three years.

That’s a pretty big drop-off in value, akin to some of the most expensive luxury cars out there. Many of those cars are notorious for depreciating at a breathtaking pace. It’s also on par with “lesser” electric vehicles, like the Nissan Leaf and BMW i3. For comparison, the Mustang, the Edge, and the Escape all have a residual value of over 50% after 36 months.

That’s bad company to keep when your main rival is Tesla, which retains an impressive 90% of its value after three years. We’re not sure how they do it, either. One possibility is that federal tax credits for electric cars – which may expire sometime within the next three years – might play a part in the Mach-E’s unusually low projected value. Any way you look at it, though, a Mach-E lease looks like a bad value proposition.

Some good news, though – the Mach-E will still be offered with an impressive range of up to 300 miles. It’ll still be offered in rear or all-wheel-drive, and it’s still powerful, too. Owners will be able to expect 0-60 times in the 3-second range with the GT trim level. However, before you sign the paperwork, be prepared to lose a fair bit of money on the deal.

Photos: Ford Motor Company

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Cameron Vanderhorst

Cam VanDerHorst has been a contributor to Internet Brands' Auto Group sites for over three years, with his byline appearing on Ford Truck Enthusiasts, Corvette Forum, JK Forum, and Harley-Davidson Forums, among others. In that time, he's also contributed to Autoweek, The Drive, and Scale Auto Magazine.

He bought his first car at age 14 -- a 1978 Ford Mustang II -- and since then he’s amassed an impressive and diverse collection of cars, trucks, and motorcycles, including a 1996 Ford Mustang SVT Mystic Cobra (#683) and a classic air-cooled Porsche 911.

In addition to writing about cars and wrenching on them in his spare time, he enjoys playing music (drums and ukulele), building model cars, and tending to his chickens.

You can follow Cam, his cars, his bikes, and his chickens at @camvanderhorst on Instagram.

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