Elon Musk Can't Help But Praise Tesla Rival Ford Over This Feat: Here's What It's All About

Ford Motor Company F is among the very few legacy automakers that have had better success with electrification.

What Happened: Ford announced on Wednesday that it has built the 150,000 Mustang Mach-E in about two years since it first went on sale. The 150,000th vehicle was built in the Cuautitlan Stamping and Assembly plant in Mexico, which is being upgraded now.

The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker said almost all of the EVs' growth to date has come from customers replacing internal combustion vehicles with electric versions. The Mach-E is available in 37 countries across the world for 2023, up from 22 countries in 2019 — the year it was launched. The markets that recently began selling the model include New Zealand, Argentina and Brazil.

See Also: Tesla's Wider FSD Beta Release Fails To Impress Ford Exec: '$15K For A Product That's Stuck At Level 2'

When a news story on the milestone was shared by one of Tesla Inc. TSLA CEO Elon Musk’s followers, the billionaire lauded the legacy automaker.

“Congratulations,” he said tagging Ford as well as the company’s CEO Jim Farley.

Congratulations @jimfarley98 @Ford!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 30, 2022

Why It’s Important: Ford said it is targeting a global yearly production rate of 270,000 as part of its plan to scale to a rate of 600,000 EVs annually by the end of 2023. The annual EV production rate is expected to reach two million by 2026.

Ford is the second-ranked EV maker in the U.S. this year, based on the number of registrations, according to the S&P Global Mobility report. As opposed to Tesla’s dominant share of 65%, Ford remains a distant second with a 7% share.

Price Action: Ford closed Wednesday’s session 1.09% higher at $13.90, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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