Photo: Ford
Ford has recently announced it started producing the Mustang Mach-E in China for the Chinese market. We even know that it uses BYD batteries in the largest car market in the world. What we were not aware of is that Ford lost some sales there because it took too long to deliver its electric SUV in that country.
It is not just a matter of impatient buyers refusing to wait for an electric car in a country packed with other options. There are more practical reasons for some customers to have given up on the Mach-E: expiring license plate quotas.
In China, you can only buy an automobile in some cities if you already have a license plate for it. That can cost you more than you would pay for the vehicle you want, which leads most sales in some cities to be for luxury models. Electric cars do not have to pay for their license plates, driving more people to buy them. However, Chinese customers entitled to buy one must do so within a specific deadline or risk losing their chance.
This is what CNEVPost reports to have happened with a customer that had ordered his Mach-E more than six months ago. When his quota was about to expire, he gave up on his order and bought another electric car.
CNEVPost based its report on news from Autostinger. The Chinese website said groups of Mach-E owners are full of similar reports from customers that were promised to receive Ford’s electric SUV by October. When Ford revealed the first vehicles produced on Chinese soil on October 18, it said the first deliveries would only begin in December.
Customers are far from being the only folks having a hard time with the Mach-E. Salespeople also have nothing to show and will not receive commissions until deliveries starts, as one of them told Autostinger. Considering the car is already in production and that the clients that did not give up on their preorders will get their electric SUVs in a few days, this may be only temporary. Sadly for Ford, it was also a missed opportunity to sell more Mach-Es.
In China, you can only buy an automobile in some cities if you already have a license plate for it. That can cost you more than you would pay for the vehicle you want, which leads most sales in some cities to be for luxury models. Electric cars do not have to pay for their license plates, driving more people to buy them. However, Chinese customers entitled to buy one must do so within a specific deadline or risk losing their chance.
This is what CNEVPost reports to have happened with a customer that had ordered his Mach-E more than six months ago. When his quota was about to expire, he gave up on his order and bought another electric car.
CNEVPost based its report on news from Autostinger. The Chinese website said groups of Mach-E owners are full of similar reports from customers that were promised to receive Ford’s electric SUV by October. When Ford revealed the first vehicles produced on Chinese soil on October 18, it said the first deliveries would only begin in December.
Customers are far from being the only folks having a hard time with the Mach-E. Salespeople also have nothing to show and will not receive commissions until deliveries starts, as one of them told Autostinger. Considering the car is already in production and that the clients that did not give up on their preorders will get their electric SUVs in a few days, this may be only temporary. Sadly for Ford, it was also a missed opportunity to sell more Mach-Es.
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