The Ford Mustang is one of the most well-known muscle cars of all time, and Ford is making it electric with the Mustang Mach-E. That being said, a name is just a name, and many Mustang fans have continued to wonder if the Mustang Mach-E can really be considered a muscle car just like the Mustang is. Here’s a look at the Ford Mustang Mach-E and whether or not it has the performance chops to be considered a muscle car. 

An overview of the Ford Mustang Mach-E

Since the Mach-E is an EV, it won’t be cheap, as it starts at about $43,000 before incentives. That said, since the Mach-E is actually an SUV rather than a sedan, it’ll be able to seat five people, and it’ll be able to seat them comfortably, too. The standard Mach-E comes with an electric motor that gets 266 hp and 317 lb-ft of torque, and it’s paired with a battery that allows the car to have a range of about 230 miles.

That range number is generally considered to be lackluster, so a lot of Mach-E customers opt for the extended range option. This option significantly increases the size of the Ford’s battery, which increases its range to about 300 miles. Charging the Mach-E can be slow too, as even with a DC fast charger, it’ll take drivers about 40 minutes to hit 80% charge with either battery option.

Overall though, the Mach-E is a great electric SUV. It can get up to about 59 cubic feet of cargo space thanks to its trunk and its frunk. It has some nice tech and smart safety features, including a 15.5-inch touch screen display. And it can be a pretty fast car, though customers will have to spend more to upgrade it to that level.

The Ford Mustang Mach-E probably isn’t a muscle car by definition

That’s part of the reason why the Mach-E isn’t considered a muscle car by most people. The definition of a muscle car is loose, and according to Carfax, one of the big sticking points for a muscle car is V8 power. Since the Mach-E is an EV, it does not have eight cylinders, so most don’t consider it to be a muscle car. That being said, Ford offers a very powerful version of the Mach-E, and for some folks, this version, the GT trim, can be a muscle car.

The Mach-E GT starts at about $63,000, and its electric motors get about 480 hp and 634 lb-ft of torque. This allows the Mach-E to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in about 3.7 seconds. That’s more power than a lot of V8 engines, and thanks to how EVs work, the Mach-E GT is certainly faster than many traditional muscle cars, too. 

Technically speaking, there is only one true muscle car on the market right now

Whether or not the Mach-E GT is a muscle car is up to you. That being said, like Carfax wrote, if folks want to get strict about the definition of a muscle car, then there’s really only one true muscle car left, and it’s not the Mustang. The last true muscle car available on the market is the Dodge Challenger. 

That’s because the traditional definition of a muscle car is, according to Carfax, “typically rear-wheel-drive, two-door American production cars that are equipped with a large V8 engine, wide tires, flared fenders, and large hood scoops.” That’s exactly what the Challenger offers. In comparison, the regular Mustang would be considered a pony car rather than a true muscle car.