How Ford Managed to Keep V8 Mustangs Alive
Ford CEO Jim Farley: V8 Mustangs are critical to the automaker’s future, but saving them required building an EV and killing off the Ford GT.
Though the Ford Mustang came into this world a bonafide smash hit – selling in throes throughout its first generation – there have been several moments since then when it wasn’t entirely clear the pony car would stick around. In fact, the Mustang has come close to the chopping block a few times over the past 60 or so years, perhaps most notably, when FoMoCo planned to replace it with the Probe, only to face the wrath of massive public backlash. The Ford Mustang was once again seemingly in trouble amid the recent EV push, watching its rivals – the Chevy Camaro and Dodge Challenger – disappear yet again, while the V8 engine in general is also going the way of the dinosaur. However, Ford CEO Jim Farley has made it quite clear that V8 Mustangs are a critical part of the automaker’s future.
Months ago, Farley was quick to note that the arrival of the Ford Mustang Mach-E is precisely what enabled the company to keep the Mustang as it is, and by that, he meant available with a good old-fashioned V8, given the automaker’s need to offset its carbon emissions and hit federal fleet fuel economy standards, which can also be said of the base EcoBoost. However, he expounded upon that particular topic when speaking during the recent Ford Performance 2024 motorsports season preview, saying that “Mach-E lets us sell ICE vehicles for a long time to come.”
“Mustang is going to celebrate its 60th anniversary coming up here,” Farley added. “A lot of our competitors have left. They’ve come and gone. We never did that. We’ve always been there with Mustang. Sixty years, and it’s changed over time. We have EcoBoost, we have the Dark Horse now, and we’re going to continue to invest. And if we’re the only one on the planet making a V8 affordable sports car for everyone in the world, so be it.”
However, Farley wasn’t quite done touching on the subject of the Ford Mustang and the V8 engine, which makes sense given the fact that we’re on the cusp of seeing a bevy of new Dark Horse-based racers hit the track this month. Rather, while speaking to Top Gear in a recent podcast, he noted that even the death of the Ford GT contributed to this massive expansion of the automaker’s pony car lineup as well.
“As far as another GT, what we want to do with the company is connect our investment in racing to actual derivatives customers can buy. And we get more turned on by having a GTD or a Dark Horse Mustang than we are a prototype car,” he said. “Would we [make another Ford GT]? I’m not going to say no to that, but that’s not really what gets our motor going. What gets us going now is to make vehicles that people can buy and cherish and go to a car show and talk about. Not things that are in a collection gathering dust.”
These are certainly some eyebrow-raising comments, which are bound to give Blue Oval fans mixed feelings. While we love the GT, it is pretty clear that only rich, famous, and/or connected folks will ever be able to own one, given the fact that they’re routinely trading for well over a million dollars at this point. On the flip side, the Mustang GTD is also an ultra-limited product, albeit one with a slightly more reasonable $300k price tag, at least.
Regardless, what is important here is that Ford has shifted its resources as needed to keep the V8 Mustangs alive, presumably for years to come – which is not something that other automakers have been keen to do, instead opting to kill off those traditional models in favor of smaller displacement, forced induction, or electric powertrains.
Photos: Ford
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