Shelby American revealed its very first electric vehicle in the form of the new limited production Mustang Mach-E GT, but curiously, it won’t be sold in the States. Instead, the Shelby Mustang Mach-E GT will be offered exclusively to European buyers who, it says, have adopted electric vehicles more rapidly than Americans.
Built to celebrate what would have been company founder Carroll Shelby’s 100th birthday, the legendary tuning house will offer the handling and styling package to just 100 customers. It will be able to fit the package to 2021-2023 model year Ford Mustang Mach-E GTs.
The Shelby Mustang Mach-E GT will be defined primarily by its carbon fiber additions. Not only have the hood and grille been replaced with carbon fiber parts, the front splitter and the side cladding, as well as the mirror caps are all made of the lightweight material, too.
“This is our first foray into a production electric vehicle, so we spent a great deal of time testing EV’s on the track to understand their unique handling dynamics,” said Vince LaViolette, Shelby American Vice President of Operations. “Based on that experience, we lowered the SUV over an inch, cut weight off the top of it, reduced rotating mass to enhance stability and enhanced the aerodynamics.”
Read: Ford Has Sold Its 50,000th Mustang Mach-E In Europe
The Shelby Mustang Mach-E GT also gets racing stripes, and Shelby badging inside and out. Rounding the whole package out is a Borla Active Performance Sound System that makes the EV louder, mirroring speed, power, RPM, torque, and load to provide owners with some auditory feedback while they drive.
As to why Shelby American decided to sell its first EV exclusively in Europe, U.S. residents have only themselves to blame. The tuning house says that Europeans are simply adopting EVs at a faster rate.
“We elected to initially offer the Shelby Mustang Mach-E GT only in Europe because sales of EVs are growing much more rapidly there than in the USA,” said Aaron Shelby, Board Member of Carroll Shelby International. “And from 2016 to 2021, the number of public EV charging stations increased by 431 percent across Europe. It just makes good business sense for Shelby American.”
In addition to the vehicle, Mustang Mach-E GT owners who opt to have this package added to their vehicle also get a one-year paid membership to Team Shelby, and will be eligible to have their vehicle documented in the official Shelby Registry.
The package costs €24,900 ($27,481 USD at current exchange rates) on top of the price of the base vehicle. Production will start in Europe in July.