American legacy automaker Ford announced a significant price cut on its 2024 Mustang Mach-E in Australia on Wednesday, November 6.
The move stunned the automotive space as the company has yet to kick off customer deliveries in the Australian market.
Price changes
According to the press release, Ford reduced the Manufacturer List Pricing (MPL) across the three model variants of the new 2024 Mustang Mach-E by up to $7,000.
The Select variant offers the largest $7,000 discount, reducing the MLP from $79,990 to $72,990. The long-range Premium’s price is reduced by $4,675 to $86,990. Meanwhile, the top variant GT now costs $107,665 (down $2,675).
These recent price cuts lowered the Select and Premium models’ MLP below the LCT threshold, enabling them to benefit from the Electric Car Discount Policy. For context, it is a huge advantage that excludes them from Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) when customers buy through a novated lease.
Impressively, the 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E Premium enables a driving range of up to 600 km. It supports fast charging technology, with innovative technologies that make it competitive in the Australian market.
“We’ve read the temperature of the market. Like some other manufacturers, we’re responding to demand. Every dealer has been issued a bulletin within the new pricing. While the offer price of any vehicle is at the discretion of the dealer, the first Mustang Mach-Es are yet to be delivered, so our expectation is that customers will benefit from the new pricing – and dealers will be reaching out to their customers to discuss this.”
Ford Australia Product Communications Manager Ben Nightingale told CarsGuide
Here’s the Updated Manufacturer List Pricing for the 2024 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E variants:
| Mach-E 23.75MY | SELECT | PREMIUM | GT |
| Current MLP (superseded) | $79,990* | $91,665*^ | $107,665*^ |
| New MLP | $72,990* | $86,990* | $104,990*^ |
| Reduction | $7,000 | $4,675 | $2,675 |
Tesla’s influence
Tesla’s major price cuts over the past 18 months (or so) undoubtedly had a significant influence on Ford’s pricing strategy.
It seems that Ford launched the price cuts to level with the Tesla Model Y’s MLP. For context, the Model Y had a starting price ranging from sub-$70,000 to $100,000 when Ford announced its EV pricing in July. It has already declined from the initial launch pricing of $72,300 to more than $100,000. Now, the same model costs about $65,400 to $92,560, CarsGuide noted.
This strategic pricing enabled the Tesla Model Y to enjoy a 230% YoY increase in volume to 27,418 units this year to date in Australia.
That said, Ford’s move to follow Tesla’s footsteps is crucial for the Mustang Mach-E to be competitive against Tesla’s electric crossover.
“This price reduction is a major positive for our customers and demonstrates our commitment to delivering the best products and great value to our customers. As the EV market continues to evolve, we are responding to it.”
Andrew Birkic, Ford Australia President and CEO
Intensifying price war
The Tesla-initiated price war continues to intensify in the electric vehicle industry. For instance, Swedish automaker Volvo recently cut the EX30‘s pricing to position the compact SUV between $59,990 and $69,990.
Hyundai also launched cheaper Ioniq 5 SUV and Ioniq 6 sedan variants with smaller battery packs, enabling the base price to drop to approximately $65,000 from about $72,000.
All that said, Ford’s new price cuts mirror the intensifying price war in the growing electric vehicle market. Such a pricing strategy is crucial for the company to challenge Tesla and Chinese automakers’ dominance. The current market situation even prompted the Musk-led company to introduce a low-cost EV with a base price of about $25,000.
