The Ford Mustang Mach-E Doesn't Have Door Handles, Here's Why

The Ford Mustang Mach-E Doesn't Have Door Handles, Here's Why

Walk up to the Ford Mustang Mach-E and you might notice something odd: this car has no door handles. You won't find the same electronic pop-up handles that sit flush with the body, like the ones offered on the Tesla Model X or Jaguar I-Pace. Rather, the Mustang Mach-E takes a different approach. Passengers access the Mach-E's cabin via electronic buttons located on the upper portion of the vehicle's B- and C-pillars. Push them, and the doors pop out about an inch. Though the over-engineered doors may sound silly at first, there are a few good reasons why Ford decided to ditch the traditional exterior handle. For one, the Ford Mustang Mach-E (as with many of its electric competitors) emphasizes efficiency. Tacking oversized door handles onto the svelte design reduces the coefficient of drag, thus limiting the overall driving range. Not only did Ford designers focus on efficiency when styling the profile of the Mach-E, they also wanted to make the car feel wholly modern by highlighting the Mach-E's futuristic capabilities. Clunky, traditional door handles, according to Ford, are a thing of the past. The electronic latches give the Mustang crossover a unique, modern feature that you won't find on many competitors. But at its core, the Mach-E is still a Mustang. And the unique door handles - or rather, lack thereof - emphasize the Mach-E's emotional characteristics more distinctly.

The U.S. EV maker plans to launch a smaller SUV鈥攖he Model Y鈥攁nd is revealing its new pickup truck model in Los Angles on Thursday. Ferrari doesn鈥檛 offer an all-electric model. But the stock hasn鈥檛 been hurt by the shift to EV sports cars (or by the 1966 loss to Ford). What鈥檚 more, Ferrari doesn鈥檛 seem ready to jump into the all-electric race just yet. 鈥淚 would say that, certainly, in terms of hybrid, there鈥檚 been huge interest, especially since the launch of the SF90,鈥?Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri said on the company鈥檚 third-quarter earnings conference call earlier this month. 鈥淪o in all fairness, I think a lot of our customers have difficulty imagining a real Ferrari, which is fully electric. But they had the same skepticism for hybrid. And when they sold the SF90, I think it blew them away. Ferrari is doing just fine in its niche. And the prospect of more EV competition hasn鈥檛 phased Telsa investors, either. Tesla stock is on a tear, up about 63% over the past three months, far better than the 8.3% rise in the S&P 500 over the same span. Tesla stock jumped after reporting better-than-expected third-quarter earnings. Shares are now up about 5% year to date. It鈥檚 an amazing rebound. Share were down most of the year as investors worried about cash flow and margins on the company鈥檚 new Model 3 sedans.

The Ford Mustang has been around since 1964-1/2, and is still going strong today. When it comes to mustang model kits, every year has been represented in model form, so you can build the entire lineage from start to finish. Revell recently came out with a 2015 kit, so you're good to go! From AMT, Revell, MPC, even Maisto, scale model companies have got on board to produce some striking wide variety of different Ford Mustang kits for you to build. Most of the variations of Ford Mustangs have been kitted in one form or another. From the Caroll Shelby GT versions, to the Mach 1 series, to different Cobra Mustang designations over the years. The model companies keep going strong, bringing us the scale models we all love to build. The scales vary, from 1/24, 1/25, to larger scale 1/12 and 1/16 kits. So there's a size and scale for everyone. Which Mustang series is your favorite?

1967-1968 - More body changes, but the same basic platform. The big block Ford engines became optional as well during these years. 1969-1970 - New body designs, same platform more or less. Exotic V8 engines like the Boss 302 and Boss 429 became available. The Mach 1 versions was gaining popularity too. 1971-1973 - Radical body changes from previous Mustangs. Same basic platform. There were a lot of options, such as the Ford Drag pack, along with many Hi-Po parts choices. The 351C made it's debut. The body style was famous from James Bond's Diamonds are Forever to Gone in 60 Seconds. 1974-1978 - The writing was on the wall after the gas scare of 1973, and smaller cars were in. The Ford Mustang downsized to a compact car, with a 4-cylinder ending up in most of them. There was a Cobra version, which had a V8 (302) as an option. But it lacked any real horsepower. The body style was made famous by Charie's Angels.

1979-1993 - The famous Fox body Mustangs. Introduced in 1979, it was available with GT styling, a 302 with a 2-barrel (and later 4-barrel), factory slapper bars, and dual exhaust. The car kept getting better each year, and with the 1987-1993 being the most popular, they had the new Ford EFI 302 with a hot roller camshaft and more horsepower. 1994-2004 - All new body styling. Introduction of the 4.6L, as the last Mustangs were available with the popular 302s. The Cobra versions had rear IRS, a first for the Mustangs. 2015 - Up - New body redesign. Paddle shifters available as an option. The Mustangs get a new rear IRS. Every year has been represented by a model kit, though accuracy, especially on the 1971-1973 years, may not be the best. With Revell's 2015 kit, you can now follow the lineage from begining to end. Note that Carroll Shelby models were available for many years, though not continuously. The 1965-1966 years for sure, but also the more modern 2005-2014 models, which are very well known and popular today. There were also the Mclaren Mustangs (with Mercury Capri body parts), and the Saleen versions for several specific years. There were aslo special Jack Roush versions. Everyone wanted a piece of the Ford Mustang business. It's the original American Pony car.