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Ford Mach-E Design Preview in Studio

Ford just pulled the wraps off of the Mustang Mach-E, an all-electric SUV that promises Mustang performance with far more practicality when it gets released in late 2020. (Full details here.) It’s the company’s first long-range electric car, and the only other Ford vehicle to ever be called a Mustang — the latter of which already has people riled up.It’s a bold move to take an iconic product and try to essentially turn it into a brand of its own, though I’d be willing to bet this electric SUV would have sparked much less interest if Ford had either leveraged another one of its badge names, or created an entirely new one. (Also, call me what you will, but I have a hard time being precious with a corporation’s words, especially when most corporations don’t seem to care about meaning anymore to begin with.)Beyond the name, the Mustang Mach-E’s design has also felt polarizing since the vehicle first leaked the other day, and a lot of that attention has been paid to the front end. Instead of a traditional grille, Ford went and gave most versions of the Mustang Mach-E a nose that matches the SUV’s body color. We’ve seen this trend a bunch in electric vehicles — they tend to need less direct air cooling, so in many cases automakers have tried to get clever with the design — but this is one of the highest-profile EV launches to date, and so it’s under intense scrutiny.