Ford planning a TESLA Model 3 rival with 200-mile range - could be Ford Model E

Ford planning a TESLA Model 3 rival with 200-mile range (Focus EV pictured)

Ford has confirmed that it’s preparing a rival to the Tesla Model 3 EV, with a new Ford – probably called the Model E – getting a 200 mile range.

The reveal of the Tesla Model 3 must have given long-established car makers real concern, with some 400,000 Model 3s ordered within a week as the Model 3’s offerings look to have created a tipping point for EVs, where they become properly mainstream alternatives to ICE cars.

But Ford hasn’t been successful for more than 100 years by letting the competition get a jump on them (well, not for too long) and its seems Ford has plans to develop an electric car which will take the fight to the Tesla Model 3.

Ford CEO, Mark Fields, has told Automotive News that Ford is developing an EV to rival the Model 3, and that they’re developing it to compete with the Model 3’s 200-mile range.

Ford has already revealed it is spending £3 billion to add 13 hybrid and electric cars to its range by 2020, and a new Ford Plant in Mexico looks to be the likely production centre for the Model E, starting in 2019.

The ‘Ford Model E’ nameplate isn’t official, but given that Elon Musk has to give up his plans to call the Model 3 the Model E (and give him a Tesla line-up that spelled ‘S.E’X’) because Ford already had first dibs on the name, it seems the most plausible route.

But Ford has a long way to go to match what the Model 3 promises, and its current Focus EV can only manage 75 miles on a charge (although that’s soon to improve to 100 miles) and electric Fords aren’t exactly flying out of showrooms.

Still, it would take a brave man to say Ford won’t be able to rise to the challenge the Model 3 looks set to deliver.