2024 Ford Mustang
Source: Ford
DETROIT — Ford Motor sees opportunity to grow Mustang sales as it becomes the last American muscle automobile with a conventional V8 engine, playing to generations of gearheads who’ve been drawn to the performance vehicles.
The optimism comes after Mustang’s closest American competitors ended production of their muscle cars in December. General Motors stopped producing the Chevrolet Camaro, and Stellantis ended production of its Dodge Challenger V8 ahead of a latest all-electric muscle automobile later this yr, followed by gas-powered models with twin-turbo, inline-six engines which can be expected in 2025.
Their exodus (and that of others within the muscle automobile market) is the result of fixing consumer demand away from two-door cars, as well as tightening fuel economy standards and the emergence of all-electric vehicles able to unrivaled acceleration.
Jeff Marentic, general manager of Ford Blue products, which incorporates the Mustang, said the horse automobile stays good business for the automaker each domestically and internationally. Mustang marks its sixtieth anniversary on April 17.
“We’re excited to proceed to supply Mustang. It’s sad to see competition leaving but that is useful to us,” Marentic told CNBC. “For people who find themselves on the lookout for a real American sports automobile, it’s available to them. … We’re looking and talking in regards to the way forward for Mustang, and the way far we will grow it.”
Ford Chair Bill Ford and President and CEO Jim Farley converse in front of newly revealed Mustang Dark Horse at The Stampede in downtown Detroit on Sept. 14, 2022.
Ford
Marentic declined to debate specific sales expectations for the vehicle but noted the corporate has added a latest V8 model for the seventh-generation vehicle called the Dark Horse — a not so subtle reference to Ford’s ambitions for the V8-powered automobile.
Each the 2024 Dark Horse and Mustang GT are powered by a 5.0-liter V8 engine, with the brand new model generating as much as 500 horsepower and 418 foot-pounds of torque. Ford also has announced a 2025 Mustang GTD with a supercharged 5.2-liter V8 engine that is expected to reach as early as later this yr with greater than 800 horsepower.
Ford has been capable of proceed to sell Mustang V8 models partially since it has invested in making the vehicles more efficient and it was early to adopt smaller, turbocharged four-cylinder engines that now make up about 48% of Mustang sales within the U.S.
Ford also offers an all-electric Mustang Mach-E crossover that features similar design cues and badging to the two-door coupe, but it surely shares little to no other characteristics aside from the name.
“I can understand the green movement, but we’re so pleased with our V8s,” Marentic said, adding the model accounts for a majority of Mustang sales in Europe. “It helps define who Ford is outside of the US.”
The Ford Mustang Mach-E is presented on the Latest York International Auto Show, Manhattan, Latest York, April 5, 2023.
David Dee Delgado | Reuters
The seventh-generation Mustang, which Ford revealed in September, recently began shipping outside of North America. It is going to eventually be sold in 85 markets on every continent except for Antarctica, based on Ford.
Non-U.S. sales have assisted in keeping the Mustang, which is exclusively produced at a plant in metropolitan Detroit, in production amid declining domestic demand for two-door sports cars.
U.S. sales of the Mustang have declined from a recent peak of greater than 122,000 units in 2015 to fewer than 49,000 last yr.
Internationally, Ford reports there have been greater than 235,000 Mustangs registered since 2015. That is when the automaker began producing right-hand drive models for countries such as the UK, Australia and Japan.
The highest markets for Mustang outside of the U.S. are Canada, Australia and Europe, based on Ford.
“People relate extremely strongly to Mustang,” Marentic said. “The pull is amazing.”
Marentic declined to debate future product plans for the Ford Mustang, including a hybrid that was reportedly canceled for the seventh-generation automobile or the potential for an all-electric version of the two-door vehicle.