Ford’s latest sales mix tells a blunt story about the state of its electric transition. In November, the company sold only a sliver more EVs than gas-powered Mustangs, a gap so narrow that a single nameplate almost matched the output of the entire battery lineup. The result is a snapshot of an automaker caught between a roaring appetite for traditional performance and a far more hesitant market for plug-in trucks and crossovers.
That tension is not new, but it has rarely been this stark. After a year in which the Ford Mach-E and other electric Mustangs proved they could outpace their gasoline sibling, the pendulum has swung back toward internal combustion just as federal incentives tighten and key EV models sit idle. I see a company that has already demonstrated EV demand when the product and policy stars align, now struggling to keep that momentum as costs, credits, and consumer patience all shift at once.
Mustang muscle versus a shrinking EV pool
The headline contrast starts with a simple comparison: in November, Ford sold just 40 more EVs across three model lines than it did gas-powered Mustangs. When a single sports coupe nearly matches the combined volume of every battery model in the showroom, it signals that the company’s electric strategy is not yet pulling buyers at the scale its planners expected. The fact that the gap is only 40 m units underscores how thin the margin is between a legacy icon and the entire future-facing portfolio.
At the same time, combustion Mustang demand is not merely holding steady, it is surging. Reporting on Ford’s internal data shows that Combustion Mustang sales almost doubled compared with earlier periods, even as the broader EV lineup lost almost as much ground. That divergence, where the old-school coupe is “having a party” while electric volumes sink, is what makes the November tally so symbolic: it is not just that EVs are soft, it is that the traditional halo car is thriving at the same moment.
How a single month fits into a longer Mustang EV story
It would be easy to read one month of data as proof that buyers have turned their backs on electric Mustangs, but the recent past tells a more complicated story. Earlier this year, the Ford Mach-E did something no one at the company would have predicted a decade ago, it outsold the gas Mustang over a full quarter and then across the entire calendar. Internal tables show that the Ford Mach-E posted stronger Q4 2024 Sales and higher Full Year totals than the gasoline Mustang, a milestone that showed how quickly an EV can climb when it hits the right mix of price, performance, and availability.
That crossover moment was not a fluke confined to a single spreadsheet. Separate analysis found that Ford sold more electric Mustangs in 2024 than gas-powered ones, with Stephen Edelstein at Green Car Reports detailing how that shift played out across the year. In that context, November’s near tie between the gas coupe and the entire EV lineup looks less like a permanent reversal and more like a sign of how fragile EV gains can be when incentives change, supply is disrupted, or buyers get spooked by headlines about charging and resale values.
Inside the “Gas Mustang Nearly Outsold Its Entire EV Lineup” moment
The phrase that Ford’s Gas Mustang Nearly Outsold Its Entire EV Lineup, Which Pretty Much Says It All has ricocheted around car forums because it compresses a complex market story into a single, vivid comparison. Underneath that line is a simple arithmetic reality: when a single internal combustion model almost equals the volume of every battery-powered Ford combined, it exposes how concentrated the company’s EV bets still are. Instead of a broad range of electric nameplates, Ford is leaning heavily on a few high-profile models, which makes the whole strategy vulnerable when any one of them stumbles.
Drilling into the numbers, the report that Gas Mustang Nearly Outsold Its Entire EV Lineup, Which Pretty Much Says It All also highlights how much of Ford’s electric volume is tied up in just three vehicles. With the F-150 Lightning sidelined and the Mach-E carrying much of the remaining load, the company’s EV business is effectively a two- or three-model story. When those models face production pauses, price cuts, or incentive changes, the entire EV column in the sales report can swing sharply, which is exactly what happened heading into the November tally.
EV sales plunge and the missing Lightning
The November near-parity between gas Mustangs and EVs did not happen in a vacuum, it coincided with a steep drop in electric volumes across the board. Ford’s own figures show that its EV sales plunged 60% in November, a collapse that would be alarming in any context but is especially stark for a company that has staked its future on electrification. When a business segment falls by 60%, it is not just a soft patch, it is a structural warning that pricing, product mix, or consumer confidence has gone badly off course.
A big part of that decline is tied to the absence of the company’s flagship electric pickup. The F-150 Lightning has been on hold, effectively removing one of Ford’s highest-profile EVs from the showroom and from the monthly sales ledger. Reporting on the November results notes that Ford’s EV sales plunge 60% with the F-150 Lightning still on hold, and that the company has effectively removed the 150 Lightning from its lineup for now. Without that truck, the remaining EVs are left to carry the volume alone, which magnifies the impact of any softness in Mach-E or other electric models and makes the gas Mustang’s strong showing look even more dominant.
Tax credits tighten just as Ford needs them most
Layered on top of product pauses and shifting consumer sentiment is a policy change that hits directly at EV affordability. Starting in 2025, Fewer electrified vehicles are eligible for consumer tax credits, a tightening of federal rules that raises the effective price of many plug-in models overnight. For a buyer cross-shopping a gas Mustang and a Mach-E, the loss of a several-thousand-dollar incentive can easily tilt the decision back toward internal combustion, especially if they are already wary about charging access or long-term battery health.
Industry voices have been blunt about how this shift intersects with Ford’s lineup. In a recent discussion, analysts noted that the Ford Mustang Mach-E EV outsold the gas Mustang for the first time just as those credits were still widely available, and that the new rules will make it harder to repeat that feat. The same conversation pointed out that Fewer models now qualify, and that Plus, the Ford Mustang Mach-E’s earlier success came under a more generous incentive regime. I see that as a reminder that EV demand is highly sensitive to policy, and that automakers cannot count on last year’s tax landscape to carry this year’s sales targets.
Why the Mustang nameplate cuts both ways for Ford
Ford’s decision to stretch the Mustang brand across both gas and electric models has been one of the boldest experiments in its portfolio strategy. On one hand, the badge gives the Mach-E instant recognition and a performance halo that many crossovers lack, which helped it climb to the point where electric Mustangs outnumbered gasoline ones in 2024. On the other, tying the EV so closely to a beloved V8 coupe means that any surge in traditional Mustang demand, like the one seen in November, can overshadow the electric sibling and feed a narrative that “real” Mustangs still run on gasoline.
The data from earlier this year shows how powerful the brand can be when the EV side is firing. When the Ford Mach-E’s Q4 2024 Sales and Full Year totals surpassed those of the gas Mustang, it validated the idea that the Mustang name could carry buyers into a new propulsion era. Yet the more recent snapshot, where the gas coupe nearly matches the entire EV lineup, illustrates the risk of leaning too heavily on a single badge to do all the electric heavy lifting. If the Mustang story tilts back toward internal combustion in the public imagination, Ford will have to work harder to convince skeptical shoppers that the Mach-E is not a compromise but a legitimate evolution of the nameplate.
Consumer psychology: performance, price, and patience
Behind the sales charts is a set of very human calculations that help explain why a gas Mustang can surge while EVs stumble. For many buyers, the Mustang coupe represents a known quantity: a familiar V8 or turbocharged engine, a soundtrack they grew up with, and a driving experience that feels like a reward rather than a sacrifice. When that package is available at a predictable price, with no need to think about home chargers or public infrastructure, it can feel like the safer emotional and financial bet, especially in uncertain economic times.
EVs, by contrast, still ask shoppers to accept a different set of trade-offs. Even when the Mach-E was beating the gas Mustang on Full Year 2024 sales, buyers had to weigh range ratings against their daily routines, factor in the availability of fast chargers, and trust that battery technology would hold its value over time. As tax credits shrink and high-profile models like the F-150 Lightning go on hold, those doubts can grow louder. The November outcome, where Ford sold just 40 more EVs across three model lines than it did gas-powered Mustangs In November, reflects that hesitation as much as it does any specific product flaw.
What the November numbers signal for Ford’s EV roadmap
For Ford’s leadership, the near tie between gas Mustang sales and the entire EV lineup should read as both a warning and a roadmap. The warning is obvious: if a single combustion model can almost match the combined output of every electric vehicle, the company’s transition is not yet broad or resilient enough to weather shocks like a 60% drop in EV sales. The roadmap lies in the earlier period when electric Mustangs outpaced gasoline ones, proving that with the right mix of incentives, availability, and branding, buyers will embrace battery power under the Blue Oval.
Looking ahead, I expect Ford to respond on several fronts. Restoring the F-150 Lightning to full availability will be essential to rebuilding volume, since the 150 Lightning is not just a truck but a symbol of the company’s EV ambitions. At the same time, the automaker will need to sharpen the value proposition of the Mach-E and its other electric models in a world where Fewer electrified vehicles are eligible for tax credits and where the gas Mustang is enjoying a renaissance. The November snapshot, where the Combustion Mustang nearly matched the entire EV roster, is not destiny, but it is a clear signal that the next phase of Ford’s electric push will be harder, more expensive, and more dependent on disciplined execution than the first.
More from MorningOverview
