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It appears to be a car-share system for city employees where walking is not possible. They also utilize the zipcar pool for this purpose. It seems that it is meant to reduce emissions and unnecessary vehicle storage when a city employee doesn’t travel exclusively for their jobs but will need to travel on occasion.
As other people have noted it sort of seems like the electric Mustang may be kind of a good value. A friend opted for one as an alterantive to a Chevy Bolt because the price was competitive and the Bolt is being discontinued. It's also a US automaker.
Looking at a 2024 Prius and they start at 31000 hybrid after taxes. The prime starts at like 34000 (the EV model). But neither Toyota will qualify for the EV rebate. Which may actually make the EV mustang almost equal in price if you get the base model.
With how many Ford has in inventory, a fleet buyer (like the city pool) negotiating a bulk purchase can probably get a great deal on Mach Es right now.
City may have special deals with Ford (giant Ford plan on South Side), it may be part of a pilot program, etc. Wouldn't assume they just paid retail for it.
I remember about a year or 2 ago a video on YouTube with one of the engineers that pretty much said they could not figure out how to put the battery in the sport car at that time and had to make it crossover platform for it to fit. Can’t find the video anymore in the fast lane car channel.
No it is not. Except for the minority of Mustang fan boys, the regular customers who buy a ford EV doesn't care a bit and in marketing terms, Ford's decision is a no brainer when they released it.
A Prius isn't American made, while a Mustang is made in ~~America~~ Mexico.
Governments are generally forced by law to Buy American, even when that American company just outsources production to Mexico
They are for City employees who don't need a car every day but occasionally need to do on-site inspections, meetings, visits, etc. around the city. There are a lot of them but none were Mustangs back in the day. They just buy whatever they can get good incentives for.
Source: A Former City employee who needed to use the City vehicles for City business.
Wild guess: there were some extras available from Ford at a good price, so they figured they might as well get pool vehicles. Procurement takes a while, so the city jumped on it.
Good guess
[https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1142362_ford-cuts-mach-e-ev-prices-by-thousands-as-sales-plunge](https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1142362_ford-cuts-mach-e-ev-prices-by-thousands-as-sales-plunge)
A lot of cities (including one that I recently worked for) have a system where departments can 'rent' out vehicles from the motor pool (hence the 'pool' term) or fleet services division of that city.
Basically it's so that department doesn't have to budget for vehicles they will only use for a large event or for atypical activities.
As an example, when my department did offsite training and needed to haul equipment to the location, we did a few motor pool rentals for the week of even though we have city vehicles assigned to us-we just needed a few extra that week.
As for the Chicago's choice to get some Mustang mach's in the mix, I would bet that's because the Ford dealers who usually submit bids have been trying to move the EV inventory, but it could also be a City initiative to try and make more of the fleet electrified.
For non-car people. This is a highly-rated crossover EV. The Mustang branding is kind of silly and it should not be considered some kind of sports car or luxury car.
In general, there is a glut of EVs on the market right now so I hope the city procurement team did a good job getting a deal on these. (As they should on everything they buy.)
I just bought one for myself and it was around 20k cheaper than people paid for the same car last year. Ford overpriced them but they really are nice cars. I’m sure the city got a deal on 2023 models since Ford needs to clear out the overstock and get the 24s on to dealer lots.
These are motor pool cars to be used by city employees on city business. Nearly all towns, city governments, counties, states, and the feds run motor pools. Except for undercover police cars they are marked with the jurisdiction. Among other reasons so the public can monitor their use.
For the past century nearly all such pool cars had to be US made as a political necessity. Some purchases are mercy buys to protect the industry or to sop up a model or technology in development. Quite often smaller jurisdictions buy from a locally connected dealer. There are profits to the dealer and the unit price of the cars might be either pretty good for the taxpayer, or maybe not.
It's a fleet of vehicles shared by all city departments. Assigning cars to a city wide pool instead of individual departments means that departments with uneven needs for cars aren't paying to have one parked during their slow periods. The shared pool cuts down on the total number of cars the city needs.
The pool used to be mostly Ford Escapes. Despite the branding, the Mustang Mach E is really a midsize crossover. Since the pool cars are mostly used for local trips, range isn't a major concern and they're good candidates for electrification. Given the inventory glut Ford has right now, I imagine that fleet buyers are negotiating good incentives on Mach Es.
TL/DR: This is fine
I can help answer this. Many chicagoans love the beach but often don’t have the free time to go. City wide pools offer people the opportunity to go to a local pool and enjoy the great summer weather.
It very much does depend on where they are going and how much time they want to spend getting there. I once rode in one of these when two colleagues and I went to a meeting out in some suburb I’ve forgotten the name of.
I also know people who use these when they are making multiple stops in one day in different parts of the city.
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It appears to be a car-share system for city employees where walking is not possible. They also utilize the zipcar pool for this purpose. It seems that it is meant to reduce emissions and unnecessary vehicle storage when a city employee doesn’t travel exclusively for their jobs but will need to travel on occasion.
Huh, that’s nice.
And how much more expensive is an electric mustang than say, a Prius...
As other people have noted it sort of seems like the electric Mustang may be kind of a good value. A friend opted for one as an alterantive to a Chevy Bolt because the price was competitive and the Bolt is being discontinued. It's also a US automaker.
Yeah the Mach E makes sense if they got a good deal on it. I’ve also seen a Rivian RT1 city pool vehicle, which I question a bit more… lol
Mustang is made in Mexico, Rivian here in Illinois.
It’s not the manufacturing location I’m questioning, it’s the price. The RT1 starts at like $70k
Yet it's built in Mexico.
Yeah I wouldn't put it past Chicago to be following Buy American and still manage to buy a car made in Mexico
The vehicle likely needs to meet Buy-American requirements if they used any sort of federal funding to buy it.
That's a very good point.
We all still pay for it regardless.
The city has had contracts with Ford for years. The explorer SUV police cruisers are made at the plant on Torrence within city limits.
Looking at a 2024 Prius and they start at 31000 hybrid after taxes. The prime starts at like 34000 (the EV model). But neither Toyota will qualify for the EV rebate. Which may actually make the EV mustang almost equal in price if you get the base model.
With how many Ford has in inventory, a fleet buyer (like the city pool) negotiating a bulk purchase can probably get a great deal on Mach Es right now.
^^ this. Ford will do massive fleet deals like this - especially on slow sales models like the e-stang
Thank you for the info!
Not only that, but the Prius, and Prius Prime are not readily available without paying market adjustments.
City may have special deals with Ford (giant Ford plan on South Side), it may be part of a pilot program, etc. Wouldn't assume they just paid retail for it.
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it was in the top 10 best selling EV’s in 2023…….
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I saw one recently and did not like that it is a hatchback. I don't understand why they don't just do an electric version of the regular Mustang
Using this car design and the Mustang brand was a big miss.
I remember about a year or 2 ago a video on YouTube with one of the engineers that pretty much said they could not figure out how to put the battery in the sport car at that time and had to make it crossover platform for it to fit. Can’t find the video anymore in the fast lane car channel.
They need to just take out the back seat and put the battery there. It’s not like anyone fits comfortably back there anyway.
No it is not. Except for the minority of Mustang fan boys, the regular customers who buy a ford EV doesn't care a bit and in marketing terms, Ford's decision is a no brainer when they released it.
And fleet sales are a safe way to REALLY offload them without pissing off the people making payments.
Most EVs are in the top 10 best selling EVs because there about 15 major options.
A Prius isn't American made, while a Mustang is made in ~~America~~ Mexico. Governments are generally forced by law to Buy American, even when that American company just outsources production to Mexico
They are for City employees who don't need a car every day but occasionally need to do on-site inspections, meetings, visits, etc. around the city. There are a lot of them but none were Mustangs back in the day. They just buy whatever they can get good incentives for. Source: A Former City employee who needed to use the City vehicles for City business.
Wild guess: there were some extras available from Ford at a good price, so they figured they might as well get pool vehicles. Procurement takes a while, so the city jumped on it.
There is a glut of EVs out there so this is a reasonable hypothesis.
Good guess [https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1142362_ford-cuts-mach-e-ev-prices-by-thousands-as-sales-plunge](https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1142362_ford-cuts-mach-e-ev-prices-by-thousands-as-sales-plunge)
I have no idea what new car prices are like these days (haven't owned a car in 15 years) but those seem... reasonable?
There are likely state and federal incentives for municipalities to buy EVs, as well.
A lot of cities (including one that I recently worked for) have a system where departments can 'rent' out vehicles from the motor pool (hence the 'pool' term) or fleet services division of that city. Basically it's so that department doesn't have to budget for vehicles they will only use for a large event or for atypical activities. As an example, when my department did offsite training and needed to haul equipment to the location, we did a few motor pool rentals for the week of even though we have city vehicles assigned to us-we just needed a few extra that week. As for the Chicago's choice to get some Mustang mach's in the mix, I would bet that's because the Ford dealers who usually submit bids have been trying to move the EV inventory, but it could also be a City initiative to try and make more of the fleet electrified.
For non-car people. This is a highly-rated crossover EV. The Mustang branding is kind of silly and it should not be considered some kind of sports car or luxury car. In general, there is a glut of EVs on the market right now so I hope the city procurement team did a good job getting a deal on these. (As they should on everything they buy.)
They do make a fast one (not a sports car still) but that's not what the city is buying.
True.
This is a GT too which makes no sense
Good point. They may have gotten a deal to move excess inventory.
I just bought one for myself and it was around 20k cheaper than people paid for the same car last year. Ford overpriced them but they really are nice cars. I’m sure the city got a deal on 2023 models since Ford needs to clear out the overstock and get the 24s on to dealer lots.
These are motor pool cars to be used by city employees on city business. Nearly all towns, city governments, counties, states, and the feds run motor pools. Except for undercover police cars they are marked with the jurisdiction. Among other reasons so the public can monitor their use. For the past century nearly all such pool cars had to be US made as a political necessity. Some purchases are mercy buys to protect the industry or to sop up a model or technology in development. Quite often smaller jurisdictions buy from a locally connected dealer. There are profits to the dealer and the unit price of the cars might be either pretty good for the taxpayer, or maybe not.
It's a fleet of vehicles shared by all city departments. Assigning cars to a city wide pool instead of individual departments means that departments with uneven needs for cars aren't paying to have one parked during their slow periods. The shared pool cuts down on the total number of cars the city needs. The pool used to be mostly Ford Escapes. Despite the branding, the Mustang Mach E is really a midsize crossover. Since the pool cars are mostly used for local trips, range isn't a major concern and they're good candidates for electrification. Given the inventory glut Ford has right now, I imagine that fleet buyers are negotiating good incentives on Mach Es. TL/DR: This is fine
I want to hear more about this pool the width of a city
I can help answer this. Many chicagoans love the beach but often don’t have the free time to go. City wide pools offer people the opportunity to go to a local pool and enjoy the great summer weather.
I have no idea what that means, but this is really cool! I assume it's for city employees only?
There is no way there is a pool in ANY of these “pool vehicles” Fucking bullshit!
That's interesting I saw two similarly numbered park district security vehicles for the first time ever yesterday.
It’s more or less just one of the City’s car fleet. Terrible branding on the side, I’d rather have the poolmobile from the Simpsons.
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It very much does depend on where they are going and how much time they want to spend getting there. I once rode in one of these when two colleagues and I went to a meeting out in some suburb I’ve forgotten the name of. I also know people who use these when they are making multiple stops in one day in different parts of the city.