When American carmaker Ford announced that it was breathing new life into the Mustang name and resurrecting it in the form of an electric vehicle people were a bit miffed. Electric and Mustang they scoffed, those two words just dont go together!

Im not even going to touch the whole whats a Mustang badge doing on a crossover SUV conversation.

Bringing back iconic names is a bit on trend at the moment, Ford isnt alone in reviving a defunct name and reinventing it with more environmentally sound drivetrains. GMC is also bringing the Hummer name out of retirement and slapping it on the grille of an all-electric pickup truck.

[Read: Tesla launches car wrapping service because its colors are boring AF]

The thing with the Ford, though, is that the Mustang Mach-E bears virtually nothing in common with its spiritual grandparent. It just has a charging stallion on the front, and thats about it. If youre one of those cars looked better in the 60s people, then I might have the answer.

A boutique electric car startup from Russia, called Aviar, is working on a Mustang-styled concept thats built atop a Tesla Model S platform.

Called the R67, the modern take on the classic American muscle car has all the features youd expect. Its got a wide rear-end, its ridiculously fast in a straight line, and it makes no apologies about that fact.

According to Aviar, the R67 will do zero to 100 kph in 2.2 seconds, which will make any classic Mustang look like a shopping cart in comparison. Its also going to have a 100 kWh battery thats good for over 500 km of range. So youll be able to burn rubber, with a slightly cleaner conscience than if it were powered by a big block V8. (But please dont burn rubber, thats bad too.)

Note that this isnt some kind of restomod like the Jaguar XK120 I wrote about a few months back. Its an entirely new body built atop a Tesla Model S platform. It uses all of the Teslas drivetrain components, and most of the interior by the looks of things. The R67 spec list reads exactly like a Model S, so think of this as a Tesla thats actually interesting to look at and has character.

Im sure itd be enough to convince even the most hardcore of classic Mustang fans to give electricity a try. If not, Fords also showed off whats possible with electric drivetrains with an experimental race-edition Mustang that has seven motors!

Perhaps the best bit of all this, though, is that the car will be certified for use at Tesla Supercharger stations. Just imagine the heads youd turn arriving in the R67, and plugging in among the lineup of derivative T mobiles.

Theres no word on pricing yet, but I wouldnt expect this to come cheap.

The electrified Jaguar X120 which is part restoration and part modification, starts at around $200,000. Given that Aviar needs to acquire a Model S to build the R67, and those cost north of $82,000, I wouldnt be surprised if the Aviar R67 ended up selling for more than $300,000.

But hey, true style comes with a price tag.

This article is brought to you by Polestar. Its time to accelerate theshiftto sustainablemobility. That is why Polestar combines electric driving with cutting-edge design and thrilling performance. Find out how.

Published August 7, 2020 14:16 UTC

Read the original here:

The perfect all-electric Ford Mustang is actually a souped-up Tesla - The Next Web