Ford Charging $495 For a Frunk on New Mustang Mach-E

Michael Strong
by Michael Strong

Automakers are always looking for ways to improve their bottom lines, and Ford’s found a way to get Mustang Mach-E buyers for an extra $495 — you gotta buy a frunk now.


To be fair, not all electric vehicles come with frunks, but for those that do, it’s always been free. Until now. Ford officials, according to the Ford Authority, claim  most owners don’t use the frunk anyway, so it’s wasted space. In this case, one person’s wasted space is another company’s newest source of revenue.

Since most buyers don’t use the frunk, one might not consider it a big deal except that when the Mach-E and the Ford F-150 Lightning were introduced five years ago, the frunk was a big part of the marketing. The number of times those spaces were shown filled with pieces of luggage or drinks on ice is too many to count.

One reason for the lack of consumer excitement may be a 2024 design update that cut down the size of the Mach-E’s trunk by about half. So it could only hold iced beverages for four people instead of a party of eight or more. The original was about the size of a 36-gallon cooler and came with a drain plug, making clean up easy after all the drinks are consumed.


Before one gets too cranky with the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker, know that it could be worse. Ford’s not the first one to charge for a frunk. If you want one in the Dodge Charger EV, it’ll cost you — 10 times as much! You’ll need to pony up $5,000 for 1.5 cubic feet of space under the hood. 

The Dodge Boys must be real short on cash.

However, if you must have a frunk for free, there are options: the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Tesla Model Y, and Kia EV6 offer them. Additionally, the F-150 Lightning still offers it while it’s still in production, and the GMC Hummer SUT does offer space there, but its primary function is to hold the truck’s removable roof panels.


[Images: Ford, Dodge]


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Michael Strong
Michael Strong

Michael Strong has spent more than 25 years writing about the automotive industry. A Detroit-area native, he’s written about everything from local car shows to product reviews to financial news. Currently he writes and edits for a variety of national and local publications. He’s also a longtime member of the Automotive Press Association and the International Motor Press Association, and a graduate of Georgia Southern University. Hail Southern! Despite a love for ’70s land yachts and BMWs from the late ’80s and early ’90s, his personal vehicle is neither of those.

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  • Vid169489471 The technology exists today to produce a variable color temperature (kelvin) LED lamp. It can vary from 2700k that soft orange look to 6500k the bright daylight with the bluish tint.Since everything in a late model car is computer controlled, it would be an easy task to write a few lines of code that enables your vehicle to not only dim down from hi to low beam but to shift color temp down to the 2700k range for oncoming traffic, then back up to 5000k once oncoming traffic has passed. For the operator it would be automatic and seamless. For older cars they could be retrofitted with LEDs that are 2700k on low beam and 5000k on hi beam. As far as standards, there could be a lumens max, and a minimum. Several States already have minimum lumen standards going back to the old incandescent bulbs. Why not update these to national standards.
  • Jam169859557 More regulation is needed for ALL vehicle lighting systems. [list=1][*]The lighting that is most blinding are the rapidly flashing red, blue and amber lights on emergency vehicles. The lights themselves are blinding, flashing so rapidly that it's impossible for even the sharpest eyes to adjust. What's worse, is the nature of the emergency requires a careful view of the area surrounding the emergency vehicle. There is something going on that needs to be seen. More flashing lights is not the solution.[/*][*]Brighter headlights need to be regulated. The tall riding vehicles do not need headlights positioned so high that they blind drivers in lower riding vehicles. And those heasdlights need to be aimed properly. When I first started driving my 2020 Subaru Outback, many drivers would flash their lights, hoping I would dim my lights. This stopped after I performed am easy adjustment that tilted the beam lower. Late model Subaru headlamps are designed with a sharp cutoff that project less glare above the hood line. When the headlights are properly aimed, other drivers are not blinded by the beam.[/*][*]Customized light assemblies make it more difficult to see the marker lights (tail lamps, turn signals and side marker lamps) that have been tinted. There are many municiple codes that prohibit this tinting, but these laws are seldom enforced.[/*][/list=1]Solutions: Tight controls on emergency vehicle lighting. In trying to make these vehicles more visible, a dangerous side effect is reducing the ability of drivers to see the surrounding perils.Headlight design regulations that reduce the height of the headlight assemblies. Just because a pickup truck has a hood that sits 4 feet abouve the pavement, it does not mean the headlights need to be so high. Owneres should maintain proper adjustments to their vehicle headlights.Establish and enforce regulation requiring a illumination standard be followed.
  • Stl170698708 as someone who hates big government, and their interference;but you can add me to the list of people that are blinded by the lights.unfortunately "the poop is out of the horse and no way is it going back in"They have had 5 years to make lights bigger, badder and brighter because in the vehicle work it is go big or go home!Trucks are the worst because so many people use them to express their dominance and that is big, big, big $$ both at the Original Purchase and in the Aftermarket world.If, we are so lucky to get some good government regulation on this it will also take some very good Court enforcement to get the aftermarket people with fines and lawsuits.Much like the EPA did with the Diesel Tuner Industry that felt emission regulations didn't apply to them.This is from someone that owns said pickup truck with the same bright headlights,but i only use the truck when I have too and always turn off the Fog lights when driving in traffic.
  • Art65765977 I saw a porsche 911 with the most amazing headlights from behind approaching the Sunshine skyway in Florida. The pattern was 108 degrees across sweeping the road like a broom. My brother and I were amazed. I don't know what it looked like from the front but i am sure it was better than American cars
  • Master Baiter This is what happens when you take a chance on a startup auto company. Designing and building cars is hard.
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