Some of you still haven’t gotten over the Mustang Mach-E, Ford’s EV SUV that borrows Mustang styling and branding. While we don’t imagine Mach-E owners are claiming, “Yeah, I own a Mustang,” the damage has been done to the fanbois. So, if you still have hair on your head, be sure to put on a sock before reading further because Car and Driver is reporting that Ford has filed a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for the name “Mach 4.”
This is nothing unusual in Detroit—one story I have heard is that, after the success of the 1968 Road Runner, Plymouth bean counters wanted to apply the name to other body styles including four-door sedans and station wagons, though they happened to win with the convertible. Or witness the application of the Cutlass name on just about every single Oldsmobile model in the 1980s. Yes, bonehead stories abound in Detroit despite people supposedly knowing better.
The USPTO application was filed on February 25th, with the trademark covering “motor vehicles, namely gasoline and electric automobiles, pickup trucks, sports-utility vehicles, and their structural parts.”
So, possibly, there goes that theory on the Mach 4 being an EV sedan, though we wouldn’t put it past Ford to not have learned its lesson with the four-door Dodge Charger (which was a success, mind you).
Car and Driver also theorizes that the trademark is related to a Raptor supercar that Ford has hinted at. FoMoCo boss Jim Farley told TopGear.com that “his team are actively discussing the idea of launching a standalone Raptor-branded off-road supercar.”
Will this be a Mustang GTD-style truck? The guy who works next to me, Derek Shiekhi (who’s currently writing about another Ford USPTO topic), speculates Ford has been influenced by the Porsche 911 Dakar, meaning the Raptor sub-brand will be more about off-road performance than performance trucks. “We’re in the middle of creating something, so we don’t have all the answers yet, but the question is should Ford make an off-road supercar? Not a version of a car, a standalone supercar,” Farley asks.
In some respects, that doesn’t sound like a Mustang, but the Mach 4 strikes us as a Dakar-inspired Mustang with AWD—hence the “4”. Or is it a four-door Mustang? What say you, enthusiast public?