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Ford has parked plans for the Puma Gen-E electric city SUV in Australia amid sharp price cuts from rivals that would likely make it too expensive to be competitive.
Electric Cars
Ford has shelved plans to sell a pint-sized electric car in Australia – the Ford Puma Gen-E – amid aggressive price cuts and growing competition from Chinese brands.
The boss of Ford Australia assured media the Gen-E – then yet to be named – would be "an important play for us" and "the right investment".
However – alongside the overnight unveiling of the Puma Gen-E in Europe – Ford has confirmed the electric SUV will not come to Australia after all, citing "an extensive review of the current dynamics of the new-car market."
Price cuts from Tesla and Chinese brands mean the most affordable electric cars on sale now command similar prices to the petrol Puma, at about $35,000.
In the UK, the Puma Gen-E costs about 15 per cent more than an equivalent petrol version.
But there is no guarantee it would be that affordable in Australia – and electric versions of other small cars can command a premium of $10,000 or more over their petrol-fuelled counterparts.
Ford has cut prices of its larger electric Mustang Mach-E twice in the past 12 months – by up to $15,000, now starting from $64,990 – but it has still only reported 600 as sold so far this year, compared to 19,000 Tesla Model Ys.
Ford Australia marketing director Ambrose Henderson said in a media statement this morning:
"Since we announced that the Puma Gen-E would join the Ford Australia line-up in early 2023, the EV market, in particular for small SUVs, has changed significantly.
"There are many factors that influence whether a vehicle’s business case stacks up – such as economic trends, material costs, consumer incentives and global supply chain – and after weighing these up, we took the call that we were better to focus our electrified lineup on other models."
The Puma Gen-E unveiled overnight will be priced from £29,995 ($AU58,000) in the UK – £3645 ($AU7000) more than an equivalent petrol version, and on par with a mid-grade MG 4, which would cost about $45,000 locally before special offers.
Its styling draws inspiration from the Mustang Mach-E, with a similar closed-off 'grille' and lower front bumper treatment, plus aerodynamically-optimised 17-, 18- or 19-inch alloy wheels.
Ford's smallest EV in Europe uses a 124kW/290Nm electric motor fed by a 43kWh nickel-manganese-cobalt battery pack.
It is rated for up to 376km of driving range in European WLTP testing – or 523km of claimed 'city range' – as well as a claimed 0-100km/h acceleration time of eight seconds, not far off the Puma ST sports variant (7.4sec).
It can DC fast charge at up to 100kW for a claimed 10 to 80 per cent recharge in 23 minutes, with 10 minutes of charging said to add 124km of range.
A unique centre console – due to the lack of a traditional gear shifter, which instead moves to a steering column stalk, plus no more old-school handbrake lever – means the Gen-E is claimed to offer more storage space and a better-positioned armrest than the petrol version.
The 12-inch infotainment touchscreen and 12.8-inch instrument display introduced with the updated petrol Puma carry over to the electric model, with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
One-pedal drive modes are also available, as well as a full suite of advanced safety technology.
The 'MegaBox' under-floor storage space in the petrol Puma has been expanded to become the 'GigaBox' in the Gen-E, with Ford claiming 574 litres of total boot space with this compartment included – plus a 43L under-bonnet storage area.
Electric Cars Guide
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family.
