Ford Mustang Lineup Expansion Aims to Beat Porsche at Its Own Game
A number of potential future Ford Mustang variants seem aimed at having the pony car compete competing with the infamous german automaker.
Recently, Ford made huge waves when it reportedly showed a variety of potential future Ford Mustang variants to a group of dealers in what was supposed to be a secret meeting. As is usually the case, that bit of news leaked out, revealing that the automaker is at least considering creating a four-door Ford Mustang, an off-road-focused model, and perhaps even a Shelby GT500 replacement. This sort of lineup expansion seems eerily familiar to what Porsche has done with the 911, and in a recent interview with Bloomberg, Ford CEO Jim Farley basically confirmed that’s precisely what he’s targeting.
“Our belief is that each car company has its own unique DNA and ours is a V8 manual and a coupe,” Farley said. “And part of the reason why we did the [Mustang] Mach-E is because we could stay in that category and offer a V8 and offer a manual. I don’t think Porsche should have all the fun. And I think they’re kind of the establishment now and we can be the disruptor. And so we’re trying to learn as much as we can. And I’ve always admired Mazda and Porsche and I think that Ford could do the same thing. We globalized the Mustang a couple of years ago and some of our biggest dealers are in Australia and Sweden, not in the U.S. Mustang is now the best-selling sports coupe in the world and we don’t really talk about it.”
As Farley notes here, the Mustang Mach-E enables the automaker to continue to make and sell the V8-powered, non-electrified Ford Mustang amid increasing emissions and fuel economy standards, as he has stated in the past. Interestingly, his competitors have simply opted to kill off the Mustang’s competition such as the Camaro and Challenger for these same reasons, while the Charger is returning with a twin-turbo inline-six or electric power only.
Thus, that lack of traditional competition leaves the Ford Mustang aiming a bit higher than it ever has before, beyond the high-dollar GTD, which figures to compete with the likes of the Porsche 911 GT3 RS and other track-focused supercars. Given Porsche’s success with the expansive 911 lineup in recent years – one chock full of variants – it makes perfect sense that Farley might want to try and mimic it with a variety of pony car variants.
Along with the GTD, the off-road-focused Mustang could offer an alternative to the 911 Dakar, perhaps one that’s cheaper and more accessible. The new Shelby – which may not be called Shelby – could aim for something like the 911 Turbo, while the four-door model is more of a Panamera rival. In any case, Farley has big ambitions here, and it’ll be interesting to see how it all pans out – as well as how traditional Mustang fans respond.
Photos: Ford
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