Ford scrapped early electric SUV designs after CEO Jim Farley saw it: 'It looks like a Prius. That's a joke.'

• Ford CEO Jim Farley wasn't happy when he first saw designs for the company's electric SUV.
• Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, he recalled saying the prototype looked like a Toyota Prius.

The Mustang Mach-E, Ford's sleek electric SUV, is a hit. Ford can't make them fast enough to meet demand.

But the electric Mustang as we know it wouldn't have hit streets if Ford CEO Jim Farley and other executives didn't step in and demand a redesign years before the SUV's debut.

In 2017, Farley, not yet Ford's top executive, saw an early design for the company's upcoming electric SUV and found it boring, he recently told The Wall Street Journal.

"It looks like a Prius. That's a joke," he recalled saying when he saw the early rendition of what would become the Mach-E. "What are we doing?"

Eager to make a splash with Ford's first modern electric car, Farley and other Ford executives decided to scrap the initial design and come up with something more exciting, The Detroit Free Press reported. Going back to the drawing board postponed the Mach-E's debut by several months, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Farley pushed hard to make Ford's first electric SUV a Mustang, a controversial decision that has paid off.

The Detroit automaker sold out of 2022 Mach-Es in April. Customers looking to order one need to wait until Ford starts production on the 2023 model.

Ford, General Motors, and other established manufacturers are working hard to catch up with Tesla, the global leader in electric vehicles. Since 2020, Ford has started selling three electric models: the Mustang Mach-E, the F-150 Lightning, and a commercial van.