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An official Ford spokesperson called Tesla’s “ Full Self-Driving ” package “ vaporware ” in an argument with a Tesla investor over the Mustang Mach-E.
Former automakers’ press and communications managers are usually very careful about what they say, especially when it comes to competition, as they are official representatives of the company.
That’s why we were surprised to see this interaction between Mike Levine, North American communications manager at Ford, and Ross Gerber, an investor who has long been Tesla.
Levine leads communications at Ford for cars, trucks, SUVs and electrified vehicles in North America, according to his own LinkedIn profile.
Gerber tagged him on a Twitter comment about Ford comparing the Mustang Mach-E to the Tesla Model Y and Ford dealers charging extra for their new electric SUV.
Levine responded by saying that the media themselves compare Tesla vehicles to the Mach-E and that Tesla is “scamming” customers with its fully self-contained “vaporware”:
In subsequent tweets, Levine has offered to help anyone interested in the Mustang Mach-E find another dealer if they are charged additional fees.
When the Mach-E launched last year, some Ford dealerships were marking the electric SUV up to $ 15,000.
Ford looked into the problem and the reserve holders compiled a list of dealers who agreed not to tag the Mustang Mach-E.
Taking Electrek
I’m surprised a Ford representative would say something like that in a public setting on a verified account.
While “vaporware” is a looser term than some would certainly say applies to Tesla’s FSD package, to say that Tesla is scamming people is more serious.
If you want my 2 cents, I think both are wrong here.
I think it’s perfectly fine for Ford or anyone to compare the Mustang Mach-E to the Tesla Model Y.
“There’s no point in trying to compare the Mach e to a tesla. It is not and it is not close ”
I don’t think that’s exactly right. While Tesla seems to have strong advantages on paper, especially in terms of range and efficiency, we found in our test drive that Ford appears to be much more careful with its estimates than Tesla.
Vehicles compete in the same segment and it’s perfectly fine to compare them.
Some Tesla fans, especially Tesla investors, have a bad tendency to reject new EVs, especially when people try to compare them favorably to Tesla’s.
As for Levine, I certainly wouldn’t call Tesla’s FSD package “vaporware”. It’s true that it doesn’t live up to its name yet, but people are currently enjoying a bunch of features that add value.
Healthy competition is good, but maybe everyone should relax a bit in that case.
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