Ford's marketing strategy for its plug-in vehicles is coming into
Focus (pun intended): compare, compare, compare.
When announcing the Focus Electric's 105 miles per gallon equivalent, for example, Ford made sure to note that it beats the "
Nissan Leaf by 6 MPGe while also offering more motor power, passenger room and standard features. Customers can make more use of this efficiency with Ford's faster charging technology that can recharge Focus Electric in about half the time of Nissan Leaf." With the C-Max Hybrid, Ford said
it would get better mileage than the
Toyota Prius V. Today, Ford is revealing more details about the C-Max Energi Plug-In Hybrid, and the press release says it offers "nearly double electric-only range of
Prius."
What does that mean, aside from some numerical chest puffery? Ford says the electric range of the Energi PHEV will be "more than 20 miles" and that the car's full-tank-of-gas-plus-electricity range is 550 miles. On top of that, the C-Max Energi is expected to get 95 MPGe (Ford expects its
Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid
to get 100 MPGe). It may not be saying much, but Ford also says that the Energi has a "maximum electric-only speed projected to top that of Prius plug-in." The C-Max
Energi Hybrid will be available this fall with a base price of $25,995, including destination and delivery.
Oh, by the way, Ford would like you to know that that price is "$1,300 lower than Toyota Prius V."
Watch a promotional video of the C-Max
below.
*UPDATE: An earlier version of this post misstated which C-Max would cost $25,995. We regret the error.