The small electric crossover Ford NZ last year signalled as definite starter has fallen victim to radically changed market condition.

MASSIVELY diminished national interest in new electric cars means the battery-pure Puma crossover Ford New Zealand confirmed a year ago now seems much less likely to show.

The make’s Auckland head office says it has not completely closed the door to the new version, which is about to reach production readiness in Europe.

However, in saying “never say never” a spokesman confirmed the type is being “reconsidered.”

“We are reviewing the business case for New Zealand …. it’s being reconsidered in light of local and global market dynamics.”

The spokesman said the technology-sharing Ford E-Transit Courier is still incoming as per original timing.

The Puma EV was originally promised to be here before Christmas as a flagship above two mild hybrids in 1.0-litre $40,990 ST line and $47,490 ST formats.

Ford NZ announced intent to take the car in a release sent out on April 18, 2023.

Headline ‘the Ford NZ electrification charge continues - all-electric Ford Puma coming to NZ’, the media share cited that the car would join the Mustang Mach-E passenger car and E-Transit Cargo commercial, these being accompanied by the Transit Courier, “as part of an expanding 100 percent all-electric Ford line-up.”

Since then, the EV sector has all but collapsed. A change to a National-led coalition government saw the rebate axed and in April electrics became subject to Road User Charge. The economy also went into recession.

Latest registrations data, for August, released last week confirmed the new EV market sector is still down 74 percent on last year and that last month was particularly poor.

The state of the market is why Nissan recently decided to u-turn on selling the Ariya EV here, even though it some stock here already, and why Renault NZ at the start of the year abandoned plans to sell a sister car, the Megane E-Tech.

Renault NZ more recently confirmed it was out of the passenger car sector completely, with intent to focus purely on vans.

Selling Mustang Mach-E has been tough going for Ford here. It has had to massively discount some unregistered stock held in the company compound since 2023. The cheapest is $74,990.

Plenty of other EVs are also being sold by their distributors at hugely discounted prices - some stickers almost halving - and the plug-in hybrid sector is also now feeling the pinch.

The biggest player there, Mitsubishi Motors New Zealand, has now begun a campaign to reinvigorate interest a former high-flier, the Eclipse Cross.

Ford NZ last week announced an update to its Escape, which includes a $72,990 front-wheel-drive ST line X PHEV, with 178kW and up to 69 kilometres’ electric driving, as an option to plug-less hybrids in $66,490 134kW ST Line X all wheel drive and $59,990 Titanium 132kW front drive.

Puma is the brand’s sole other passenger model. When the electric edition was internationally announced last year, national EV take up was so buoyant a Ford NZ spokesman expressed expectation that every example brought here would easily find a home here.

The electric model is about to be fully unveiled in Europe; potentially that will happen at a motor show in Paris next month.

It is on the same platform as the ICE versions and retains the standard car’s curvy crossover body shape, high-set headlights and sloping rear end.

Though Ford has yet to release images, it is expected to achieves numerous EV-specific tweaks, such as a closed-off front grille to improve aero efficiency, a new LED running light design and a slightly cleaner lower front bumper.

Puma EV performance data has yet to come, but the powertrain in the E-Transit Cargo van presents 100kW/ 290Nm driving the front axle, with a top speed of 144kmh and ability to charge at 100kW for a 10-80 percent top-up in less than 35 minutes.

The Puma's electrification registered as a big step in Ford’s electrification strategy that represented last year as an investment of $22 billion through 2025.