Ford attempts to charge-up EV enthusiasm with Mustang Lithium launch at SEMA 2019

If the goal of Ford is to build support among enthusiasts for the idea of a Mustang as something other than a traditional pony car with a rowdy internal combustion V8 under the hood, building a hot looking electric Mustang that makes 900 horsepower and 1,000 pound feet of torque—with the added novelty of a six-speed manual transmission on an EV—is a good idea, in theory. But did yesterday’s Mustang Lithium launch at SEMA 2019 deliver the goods?

Maybe until you get a close look at the hood and the interior.

Viewed from the side, the Mustang Lithium, built as a collaboration between Ford and Webasto, is an eye-catcher. While Oxford White is an available color for the stock 2019 Mustang lineup, most modern Mustang buyers seem to opt for more flamboyant colors.

A white modern Mustang isn’t that common a sighting on the street, so the black on white paint scheme of the Mustang Lithium, when viewed from a distance, does stand out as something different.

But then you get closer and see the design touch of an electric blue circuit board inlay on the black hood. And then there is that interior, with the electric blue outline accents on the gauges, steering wheel spokes, cup holders, and shifter ports.

It’s not a good look. The contrast of the electric blue against the black background is stark, and not in a good way. The electric blue accents look almost like an afterthought, as if the team thought, “Gee, we’ve created an impressive new powertrain twist for the Mustang here. Guess we need to think of some styling cues that suggest electricity as well.

It’s easy to understand why Ford needed to do something like this at SEMA this year. After more than a year of rumors, the pony is officially out of the bag about the plan for a Mustang-based crossover and a future for the Mustang that will include powertrains other than the traditional internal combustion architecture.

Sure, the numbers are impressive, especially in the SEMA context. The 1,000 horsepower and 900 pound feet of torque match what the internal-combustion Hellephant crate engine that Mopar launched at SEMA last year produces, for example.

And hinting that the engaging experience of a manual transmission can still be part of an electrified automotive future was an important move to make as well.

But, especially at SEMA, Ford should have done something more interesting with the design than the cheesy circuit-board imagery and electric blue accents.

Surely Ford’s design team can do better than that, and think of all of the interesting electric-car builds we’ve already seen at past SEMAs, like last year’s stainless steel Tesla from Creative Bespoke.

Yes, it’s an impressive concept with an impressive powertrain. But with a Mustang, there’s a much larger mystique to live up to. And from a design standpoint, this concept build doesn’t. So it’s hard to think of the Mustang Lithium launch at SEMA 2019 as anything other than a miss for Ford.

But maybe that’s a sign that the segment of the market that cares about what’s happening at SEMA isn’t the segment that Ford is worried about.