- A frunk is now an optional extra on the 2026 Ford Mustang Mach-E.
- Ford says many drivers weren’t taking advantage of the Mach-E’s frunk, so cutting it reduces costs.
- It costs $495 to add the frunk.
Like most consumers, I have a serious aversion to things that once were free becoming pay-to-play experiences. Things so often start to feel like they’re only meant to extract every last dollar from the consumer. For example, McDonald’s and every other fast food restaurant have now decided to charge for condiments or dipping sauces. Is it that big of a deal to give me an extra honey mustard with my 10-piece McNuggets?
Well, unfortunately, the car world is following suit. If you were upset with the race to subscriptions for once-free features like heated seats, then, well, Ford will do you one better: You’ve got to pay for the frunk.
Yep, you’ve read that right. Initially reported on by Ford Authority, Ford has made its frunk a paid option for the 2026 model year, after five years of including one for free. Now, if you want the privilege of storing things in front of the car, you’ll have to pay an extra $495 to use the under-hood space. Ford claims that its planning team noticed that consumers weren’t taking advantage of the frunk all that much, so they figured they could just make it a paid option without too much impact on the end user.
However, it does seem quite strange to effectively lock free cargo space and real estate behind a paywall, especially since Ford’s early marketing for the Mach-E revolved so much around its frunk. The Mach-E, when originally introduced for the 2021 model year, had one of the most useful frunks on the market. At nearly 5 cubic feet and equipped with a drain, the Mach-E was suitable for anything from an extra carry-on piece of luggage to a frunk-full of ice and cold beverages.
An update in 2024 reduced its size by about half, due to a new heat pump. Still, the shape of the updated frunk still meant it was useful for more than you’d think, like, say, a duffel bag. It was certainly better than cars like the Kia EV6 or Hyundai Ioniq 5, which feel like they have a Tupperware container glued to a metal plinth placed in the middle of an engine bay. We know that without the frunk, there’s just a void underneath Mach-E’s hood. Why make consumers pay to use that space?
Ford isn’t even the only EV manufacturer to make its customers pay for frunk access, either. The Dodge Charger EV’s frunk is 1.5 cubic feet, which is also an option, albeit wrapped up in the R/T package, which comes with more power and more equipment but costs a whopping $5,000. I guess we should be thankful that Ford only charges people $495.
I’m curious to see just how things play out in the future, here. I personally have never felt strongly one way or the other for modern frunks in electric cars. Extra space is always useful, but some frunks, like the one in say, a Polestar 2, are too small. The space is so useless that it can barely carry a set of emergency level 1 charging cables. The presence of one wouldn’t make or break a car’s purchase for me.
And I think this could be true for consumers, as well. The Tesla Model 3 and Model Y do have frunks and sit at the top of the EV sales charts, but cars like the Chevrolet Equinox EV or Volkswagen ID.4 do not. In fact, most General Motors and Volkswagen group EVs don’t have frunks, yet that hasn’t stopped either brand from posting admirable results on global sales charts.
Maybe Ford is onto something here, and the frunk is a fad that some people just don’t care about. I still don’t think it’s great we’ve got to pay to use the space, though.
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