The much-anticipated Ford Mustang Mach-E has been stirring up its fair share of controversy in recent months, especially amongst Ford fans who have cried foul over the car's all-electric powerplant and exterior design that looks nothing like any Mustang before it (despite the fact that Ford has announced an all-electric Mustang lineup by 2028). Say what they will, the Mustang Mach-E is a bold move by Ford, and there are few who can compete with it at the moment. With no real electric SUV competition to measure up against, Ford decided to look across the pond to make comparisons. Thanks to Muscle Cars and Trucks, we now know where Ford looked.

According to Mark Kaufman, head of Ford's EV development squad Team Edison, Ford benchmarked its new EV against the Porsche Macan. When the Mustang Mach-E was in the early days of development, many competitive EVs, such as the Tesla Model Y, had not been launched. "We had to be more creative with our benchmarking. The Porsche Macan was interesting for us given the similar size, sport heritage and brand premium."

Ford certainly set the bar high with the Macan, a car which is considered to be one of the best driving cars in its segment, and makes the message clear that the Mach-E will aim to be a true driver's car.

This news also further distances the Mustang Mach-E from its namesake the Mustang, and shows that Ford clearly has no intentions of making their performance EV behave like a traditional two-door sports coupe. The Mustang Mach-E promises to be a rapid machine, and will be offered with either a standard-range (75.7 kWh) battery or an extended-range (98.8 kWh) unit. The electric powertrain will produce 480 horsepower and up to 634 lb-ft of torque, resulting in a zero to sixty sprint time of only 3.5 seconds, absolutely destroying the Macan Turbo's best of 4.3 seconds. The Mustang Mach-E will be priced slightly lower than the Macan when it arrives later in the year.