Aug 11, 2008

What Will the New Mustang Be?

Could the curtain be coming down on the V-8-powered Ford Mustang? Will the next version of Ford’s fabled pony car be packing a V-6 engine under the hood instead of the traditional big eight-cylinder? With much more stringent fuel economy regulations looming in the future, that could well be the case. Ford is already paving the way for such a decision by touting its coming EcoBoost system that, as it says, allows a V-6 engine to offer the power of a V-8, while at the same time, sipping gas -- in relative terms at least.

There’s no doubt that Ford has a pretty good idea where it is going with the next version of the car, which is scheduled for launch as a 2010 model, likely late next year. Recently it put a heavily camouflaged early prototype of the car through its paces at Road Atlanta, in a semipublic demonstration that did little to reveal anything. Some still expect the top-of-the-line performance version of the car to feature a five-liter, three-valve-per-cylinder V-8, an engine we could see soon in the current-generation Mustang. But don’t be surprised if that engine is quickly supplanted by an equally high-horsepower turbocharged V-6.

With fuel prices the way they are, some in the industry are predicting that the Mustang and other pony cars are on their last legs, despite the fact that Chrysler just introduced the Dodge Challenger and the all-new Chevrolet Camaro is set to be test-driven soon by several top automotive Web sites in preparation for its imminent launch. But if gasoline prices moderate, we think there is still some life in the concept. With a new Challenger and Camaro on the market, a new Mustang will add its legion of fans to what could be an increasingly large party.