I think Ford doesn’t remember how annoyed purists and enthusiasts were when the automaker slapped the Mustang moniker to the Mach-E.

The car was set to be the company’s first pure EV, so it didn’t need the Mustang badge to be relevant. As if this wasn’t enough, Ford has now decided to make the Mustang a sub-brand. This means the company plans to sell Mustang-branded vehicles in the future. To add to the misery, the Bronco will be made a sub-brand too. Why is Ford giving us multiple reasons to hate it?

Both The Sub-Brands Will Feature All Sort Of Vehicles

There were a few hushed talks that suggested Mustang becoming Ford’s sub-brand, but this latest report from “We have to leverage what we’re good at. What are we good at? Mustangs and trucks. Mustang is a niche product with a great legacy. We need to expand on that legacy. More Broncos is a no-brainer.” adds fuel to the fire. A source with connections inside the company said that the automaker is considering making the Mustang and Bronco sub-brands and sell a wide variety of vehicles under their respective umbrellas.

This won’t be limited to Mustang selling muscle cars or Bronco focusing on off-roaders; they will feature all types of vehicles. The publication, however, also mentioned the Mustang will be performance-oriented.

What Is Ford Icons?

Ford is turning both these sub-brands into something called the Ford Icons group. This is what the source told Autoweek; “We have to leverage what we’re good at. What are we good at? Mustangs and trucks. Mustang is a niche product with a great legacy. We need to expand on that legacy. More Broncos is a no-brainer.”

Ford already has an Icons group that’s headed by Dave Pericak, former head of the Ford Performance organization. Ford Icons is a group of famous, legendary monikers that customers embrace with passion and pride. The group consists of the Mustang, Shelby GT, the Ford Ranger, the F-150 Raptor, and the upcoming Bronco. Now, Ford is planning to add the two sub-brands to this group. It doesn’t make a lot of sense since the Mustang and the Bronco are already part of the group.

Final Thoughts

People didn’t like the Mach-E getting the Mustang label, and now the company is planning to have all sorts of vehicles under the Mustang sub-brand. Although Ford’s idea is good and the fact that the company has plans for a lot of products in the future is the silver lining, why associate it with existing monikers and dilute the essence on both sides? We’ll have to wait and watch how this pans out.

What are your thoughts about this? Share them with us in the comments section below.