The all-new S650 Ford Mustang has been confirmed for Australia. Additionally, the seventh-generation of The Original Pony Car has now been confirmed for 2023, suggesting a 2024 model year. Ford’s top brass has stated that it will be revealed next year, quickly followed by media drives and customer deliveries. Ford has also teased some interesting details about the car’s engine and gearbox.
While a hybrid Mustang is inevitable, the 5.0L V8 will live on. However, it might not be offered with a manual. Ford’s current vehicle director for Icons and Ford Performance, Ali Jammoul, was in Australia for the final sign-off of the second-generation Ranger Raptor and told Australian publication Wheels, “The Next-generation (Mustang) that we’re working on now will be launching next year, in 2023, and it’s going to be great. So it’s launching next year, and there will be events, so you (the media) will get to drive it.”
Jammoul is in charge of the ‘total lifecycle’ for Ford Performance vehicles, meaning he oversees the entire project from conception to launch. He also commented on questions regarding the powertrains for the S650 Ford Mustang.
S650 Ford Mustang: Additional Details
“Engine selection is really important, right. And what we pride ourselves on is giving the customer a lot of choice and selection to choose from. Clearly the V8 has been really successful in Mustang and it has a certain image that our customers associate with. What we need to do, though, is make the V8 more environmentally friendly and you need to make sure it’s regulatory compliant. And that’s absolutely something we have worked on and will certainly have in the next-generation Mustang.
“I don’t think the V8 is going away soon; at some point with electrification and with BEV (battery electric vehicles) you can do a lot more in terms of performance, and that might be the time that V8s start to phase out. But I see Mustang continuing to carry the V8 for now.”
MC&T originally reported that the S650 Mustang will continue to offer a V8 engine. These comments further validate our exclusive report.
Jammoul also stated that Ford is looking into electrified versions of the new Mustang due to the performance potential that comes with hybrids and full-electric powertrains. When it came to the manual gearbox, Jammoul stated that he couldn’t confirm if the manual gearbox would stay. Its existence will be entirely dependent on customer demand. Whether or not it’ll be around when the new Mustang launches remains to be seen.
Image via Ford Performance
