Mustang Mystery: Ford Teases Possible Mach 1 HEV in Latest TV Spot

Shadowy image in Ford’s The Future is Built commercial may possibly indicate that an HEV Mustang is on the way. 

We recently ran a post about Ford’s freshly-published promo featuring Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad narrating the greatness of Ford’s foward thinking. But did it also serve as a huge teaser for all the electric Mustang talk we’ve been hearing about lately? The super brief footage in the video seems to support this theory.

It certainly isn’t any Mustang that we have even seen before, with a front end that features the famous “running pony” badge glowing in blue over a near-solid grille. Our friends at Motor Authority, talk about how technology advances over time and with so much talk about a Mustang-inspired EV, we have to wonder if this might not be the vehicle once referred to as the Mach 1.

‘Future is Built’

The new promotional video on the Ford Motor Company YouTube channel titled The Future is Built is pretty cool, but the most important part of the clip starts at the 34-second mark.

First, we see a 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 tearing down the road, followed by a look at the 2019 Mustang GT on the open road. After the 2019 model, we see an interesting computer-generated graphic showing the grille of the current Mustang. The camera magically passes through the grille, where we quickly see what appears to be a V8 engine, but it immediately vanishes.

In its place, we see the car above, with the shadows hiding the majority of the features, but the glowing Ford Mustang badge on the grille is unmistakable. However, this is not any of the current or past production Mustangs, and that is where this discussion begins.

What Is It?

Nearly a year ago, Ford Motor Company announced that the company was working on a Mustang-inspired electric vehicle that was loosely referred to as the Mach 1. Since then, the company has leaned away from the Mach 1 name, but we have to wonder if that reference to the classic muscle car isn’t being used for marketing purposes. After all, we have been calling the upcoming Mustang-inspired EV the Mach 1 for months now, so it makes sense for Ford to make use of that branding, even if the company doesn’t plan to use the name on the new vehicle.

What we can see in this picture is a set of hi-tech headlights that are larger than the current Mustang headlights and while the shadows hide most of the detail, the grille behind the glowing blue pony almost appears to be solid. Electric vehicles often have near-solid grilles to improve aerodynamics, since they don’t require the same type of cooling air flow as a combustion engine.

If this shadowy teaser does reveal the Mustang-inspired electric vehicle currently being called the Mach 1, it is interesting that the company has gone so far as to brand it with the famous running pony logo. Frankly, it seems unlikely that the Motor Company would put that logo on anything other than a Mustang, but with the unique front end with little cooling flow, it seems unlikely that this would be something with a combustion engine.

In the end, this could be our first look at the face of the electric vehicle currently known as the Mach 1 or it could be a look at some sort of concept, one which could rely on a hybrid V8 to offer big, efficient power.

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Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

Rall can be contacted at QuickMirada@Yahoo.com

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