Ford Mustang goes electric in 2020

Ford has announced it will make a new hybrid version of its Mustang, Transit delivery van and big F-150 pick-up in a bid to slash emissions, improve fuel economy and reduce running costs of the vehicles it sells.

Holding a press conference late last night (our time) at its Flat Rock Michigan assembly plant Ford's CEO, Mark Fields, detailed seven of the 13 hybrid or plug-in hybrid vehicles the car maker plans to produce.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the inclusion of the high performance Mustang coupe.

According to the Ford boss the four-cylinder hybrid version of the coupe will match the V8's power (306kW) but produce even more torque than the naturally aspirated 5.0-litre's 530Nm.

In other words, the electrification of the Mustang will benefit performance just as much as fuel economy.

On sale in 2020, Fields said the hybrid Mustang will, initially, only be available in North America.

The next candidate to get hybrid power is the F-150 pickup truck, which has been the top-selling vehicle in the USA for decades.

Already featuring an aluminium body to reduce its kerb weight, it's thought the best-selling F-150 will share the same four-cylinder Ecoboost hybrid powertrain the Mustang is set to get.

More relevant to Europe, Fields also confirmed it was developing a plug-in hybrid version of the Transit Custom and a Transit Connect hybrid that the car maker is developing as a new taxi to replace the Ford Escape hybrids used in mega cities like New York.

The plug-in delivery van is due as soon as 2019, Ford says.

Even US police forces will benefit from the drive to hybrid with both the current US-spec Taurus and Explorer interceptors being adapted to run hybrid powertrains.

The US car maker's CEO also used the special press conference to announce that Ford is also developing a fully autonomous 'level 4' hybrid vehicle. Fields didn't confirm if the self-driving car, due in 2020, will have any human-usable controls.

Finally, Ford has confirmed it is continuing to develop pure-electric vehicles and will soon have a small SUV on sale that will cover 500km between charges. That said, Fields didn't confirm when it plans to sell the new zero-tailpipe emissions vehicle.

What Ford did say is when it offers the new SUV it won't have to be physically plugged in to recharged it. Therefore the EV SUV will be charged, along with the new range of plug-in hybrids, by a new inductive charging mat. Just drive over the top of it and leave it there.

As well as announcing the decision to introduce the new hybrid, plug-in hybrid and pure-electric line-up, the car maker has also announced it has cancelled plans for a new US$1.6 billion (A$2.2 billion) car plant in Mexico.

Instead, it will invest US$700 million (A$1 billion) in its existing Flat Rock facility.

The move to reinvest money within the US is thought to head off plans by the future president, Donald Trump, to introduce heavy import taxes from Mexico.