2024 Ford Mustang & Mach-E hit Melbourne, go directly for coffee

The first examples of Ford’s imminent Mustang GT coupe and Mach-E electric SUV have touched down in Australia, months ahead of their local launches – with a pair of pre-production vehicles unveiled in public over the weekend.

Revealed at the popular Highball Cars & Coffee event in Melbourne’s east, the pair joined hundreds of rare and desirable cars at the informal event at Bosch Australia’s headquarters.

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While both models were driven to the event and are right-hand drive, the cars are not early customer vehicles but part of a pre-production first-fleet that wouldn’t normally see the light of day outside Ford’s premises until after their official launch.

However, Ford Australia product communications manager Ben Nightingale said its first electric vehicle the Mustang Mach-E and the S650-generation Mustang were special enough to warrant a different approach for their introduction.

“Ordinarily these wouldn’t be seen out in public,” he said. “We decide to change it up because we really want to engage directly with our customers and this is a great way to do it.”

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Alastair Brook on the job!

Not all Ford models would justify a celebrity appearance at one of the country’s biggest cars-and-coffee gatherings, said Nightingale, but such a high concentration of motor heads made the event an obvious choice for an unorthodox activation.

“We know that the demand’s there, the passion is there – they’re enthusiast vehicles and Highball is an enthusiast event, so it just makes sense.”

“We’ve parked near some modified sixth-gen Mustangs, so there’s some knowledge there already and it’s great to see people taking notice.”

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When will the new Mustang coupe and Mustang Mach-E EV go on sale in Australia?

Neither model is due on sale in Australia for many months.

Nightingale confirmed the Mustang Mach-E is expected in the final quarter of 2023, while the seventh-generation Mustang is even further down the line with a launch planned for the first quarter of 2024.

The previous-generation Mustang is now in runout and orders are only being taken from Australian customers for the new version, and the appearance of the pair of show-cars is an unusual part of an otherwise normal introduction process.

“We always bring out 'PP' or Pre-Production units [to Australia], and it’s usually for our team internally to have a good look at them and do some evaluation drives, spec checks – those kind of things. This is the final phase before we switch into production mode.”

While Nightingale couldn’t reveal exact numbers for Mustang and Mach-E orders, he did confirm that demand was as “strong” as expected and Australia had secured the supply to meet it.

"This is the final phase before we switch into production mode.”

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Mustang GT interior: Overseas model shown

“We're really pleased with how demand is travelling for both models. We’re in the 'phase-down' for sixth-gen because seventh-gen is in production now. Orders are flowing into that bank now and things are looking great.

“We’ve got good supply and if a customer wants to place an order they can go in to place an order – there’s no ballot system. They’re going to be able to get the car they want.

“With Mach-E, we didn’t want to run the model of some of our rivals where they’re coming in very small numbers and you have to do lotteries. Our first production Mach-Es will arrive next month.”

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Ford will offer the Mustang Mach-E in three different varieties, including an entry level rear-wheel-drive Select priced form $79,990, a mid-range Premium with bigger battery and more performance for $91,665, while the all-wheel drive GT forms the flagship for $107,665.

With a launch planned further out, Ford has not yet confirmed which of the more traditional Mustangs will be offered in Australia – but the carmaker has already revealed three powertrain options in both coupe and convertible bodies, along with manual and automatic transmissions.