OP made no statement about brand loyalty. It sounds like the car buyer went through the same rational process you do and decided that the Mach-E was the car tha

OP made no statement about brand loyalty. It sounds like the car buyer went through the same rational process you do and decided that the Mach-E was the car that they wanted. When faced with the inability to buy the car they wanted, they decided that they will need to buy something else with the important new parameter that they will only own this car for a short time (until they can buy a Mach-E). With that new parameter, it makes sense to buy a gas car (cheaper to get into, TCO is much less of a factor, etc).