With eyes on Tesla’s Model Y, Ford offers driver assist software for free with Mustang Mach-E SUV ahead of deliveries in China

Ford is offering Co-Pilot 360, worth 15,000 yuan, free of charge to boost the sales of its all-electric SUV

Giveaway seen as prelude to fiercer competition in China with Tesla and other carmakers

Reading Time:2 minutes

A Ford Mustang Mach-E is displayed during the 19th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in April this year. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:10pm, 12 Nov 2021Updated: 10:52pm, 12 Nov 2021

Ford is offering its Co-Pilot 360 driver assist software package free of charge to boost the sales of its all-electric sport-utility vehicle (SUV) Mustang Mach-E.

People buying the SUV had to pay for the software, which is worth 15,000 yuan (US$2,346), previously. On Friday, Ford said they would get it for free, on top of free home charging piles and installation services.

“This SUV has been in the media limelight ever since industry analysts started saying they expected the Mustang Mach-E to be a real challenger to Tesla’s Model Y,” said Phate Zhang, the founder of Shanghai-based electric vehicle (EV) news portal CNEVPost. “But Ford has to make sure that deliveries of the locally built SUVs begin as soon as possible.”

The software giveaway ahead of Mustang Mach-E deliveries in China, the world’s largest EV market, is being viewed as a prelude to fiercer competition among the world’s leading EV makers, such as Tesla, and conventional carmakers, such as Ford.

Priced at 265,000 yuan to 379,000 yuan, the Mustang Mach-E is being assembled at a plant in China’s southwestern Chongqing municipality by Changan Ford Automobile, a joint venture between the US carmaker and Chongqing Changan Automobile.

The SUV debuted at the Los Angeles Auto Show in 2019 and in January this year Ford said it would start producing it in China to reinforce its foray into the country’s EV market. The first Mustang Mach-E rolled off the assembly line in Chongqing on October 18, and Ford has said deliveries to customers will start before the end of this year.

The Mustang Mach-E comes fitted with six cameras and 17 radars and has a driving range of 619 kilometres on a single charge. Co-Pilot 360, its driver assist system, is a Level 2 automation technology that allows the vehicle to control both steering and acceleration and deceleration. It falls short of self-driving and a driver can take control of the car at any time.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x