Ford Motor Co. (F) has lowered the price of its Mustang Mach-E electric vehicle by an average of $4,500 U.S.
The price cut comes as Ford competes for sales of electric vehicles with market leader Tesla (TSLA), which has lowered prices on most of its vehicles by an average of 20% to spur demand.
The lowest priced Mach-E now starts at $45,995 U.S., down $900 U.S., while the most expensive edition, the GT Extended Range version, declines by $5,900 U.S. to a starting price of $63,995 U.S.
Even before the new discounts were announced, Ford said that the Mustang Mach-E is unprofitable. However, the Detroit-based automaker said it hopes to offset margin deterioration by boosting production of the Mach-E by 67% this year.
The fight to attract consumers comes as analysts forecast that electric vehicle sales will slow this year and into 2024.
Regardless of the current sales forecast, Ford is investing $50 billion U.S. to build electric vehicles and plans to produce two million of them a year by the end of 2026.
Ford was the second biggest seller of electric vehicles in the U.S. last year behind Tesla, which controls two-thirds of the market.
The Mach-E’s manufacturing plant in Mexico is currently idle as the automaker retools it to expand capacity to 130,000 models a year from 78,000 previously.
Ford’s stock is down 37% over the last year at $12.89 U.S. per share.
