Even before Ford pulled the wraps off its long-awaited Mustang Mach-E electric crossover this week in Los Angeles, the comparisons had begun. Across the EV landscape, there is just a single model with which the Ford shares its key characteristics: crossover shape, starting price under $50,000, over 200 miles of range, available in 2020.

It's Tesla's Model Y.

We at Autolist.com were curious about how consumers felt about the two models. So in the days following the Mach-E's debut, we pitted the Ford against the Tesla and polled more than 1,000 current car shoppers on which of the two they would choose.

We'll get to the head-to-head results in a moment, but first, we also asked people what they thought of Ford using the Mustang name on this decidedly non-Mustang vehicle.

Ford's reasons for doing so make sense. Electric vehicles - regardless of their shape - are the future. The devil is just in how long it takes for EVs to become the norm.

At the same time, sales of cars are rapidly declining. Ford itself is about to ax its Fusion, Taurus, Focus and Fiesta cars and, ahem, focus on crossovers, trucks, and SUVs. And the Mustang.

So by attaching the Mustang name to this likely future-proof electric crossover, Ford is ensuring that 'Mustang' will live on when gas-powered vehicles become outliers.

Mustang also has tremendous name equity for Ford. With 55 years of production under its belt, Mustang is an unofficial subbrand for the American automaker. Leveraging that tremendously valuable recognition to boost awareness of a crucial new EV is smart.

If only consumers saw it that way.

When we asked car shoppers how they felt about Ford using the Mustang name on the Mach-E, 47 percent said they didn't like the move, 19 percent said they did like it, and 34 percent were undecided.

Time will likely be on Ford's side on this. The idea of a Mustang being electric - and a crossover - is still very new. Once consumers get used to the idea, and they realize this may be an important way the Mustang name lives well into the electric era, this decision might not seem so upsetting.

Name issues aside, would consumers choose the Mach-E over the Tesla Model Y?

Yes. And no. Essentially it was a dead heat.

We surveyed just over 1,000 people, and the results were essentially a draw: 51 percent of respondents said they would choose the Mustang Mach-E, 49 percent said they would choose the Model Y.

We then asked people to choose three reasons why they chose the vehicle that they did.

Those who preferred the Ford cited the following reasons:

    t
  1. Prefer/trust Ford more
  2. t
  3. The Mach-E's exterior styling
  4. t
  5. Ford's established dealer and service network
  6. t
  7. The Mach-E's expected reliability
  8. t
  9. Concerns about Tesla's future

It's interesting that on this list is Ford's dealer and service network - a key advantage legacy automakers have over Tesla, which is currently struggling with long delays for parts and service at their service centers nationwide. Ford says it has certified more than 2,100 of its dealers to sell and service the Mach-E.

Those respondents who said they'd choose the Tesla Model Y cited the following reasons for doing so:

    t
  1. Prefer/trust Tesla more
  2. t
  3. Expected reliability
  4. t
  5. The Model Y's expected performance
  6. t
  7. Tesla's Supercharging network
  8. t
  9. Dislike of the Ford brand

Key among consumers' reasons for choosing the Model Y is Tesla's Supercharging network. While Ford has stitched together its own network of charging stations from a variety of existing services, it's still not as robust as Tesla's setup.

In fact, the Supercharging network itself is regularly cited by both executives at rival automakers and industry experts as one of Tesla's core strengths and crucial advantages over the many newcomers to the EV space that we'll see in the coming years.

How these two EVs actually fare once deliveries commence will be interesting to watch. But we'll have to be patient.

The first Ford Mustang Mach-Es don't land in customers' hands until late 2020. And those aren't even the base Select models with the attractive $45,000 starting price - buyers will have to wait until 2021 for those and the high-performance GT model.

Tesla's Model Y is also slated for 2020, though Tesla isn't exactly known for hitting its production deadlines on time.

tag