Next-gen Ford Mustang debut rumored for April 2023
The world first saw the sixth-generation (S550) Ford Mustang in late 2013; it’s replacement could debut ten years later. Car and Driver surveyed the changes and holdovers we might see on the coming S650 Mustang, writing that the new car could debut on April 17, 2023. If that happens, the seventh-gen Mustang would greet the world exactly 59 years after the first Mustang greeted the 1964 New York World’s Fair.
We’ve seen plenty of spy shots of the next-gen pony car. So far, all of them suggest evolutionary rather than revolutionary styling. The powertrains are thought to be small steps ahead as well. Barring misadventure, the 2.3-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder and 5.0-liter V8 will power the new car. C/D says the four-cylinder could be run up to 320 horsepower — a ten-horse increase over the current base engine. It’s not clear if anything’s in store for the stock Coyote V8.
The attention-getting news under the hood is the arrival of a hybrid Mustang that Ford has already said will target “delivering V8-like performance with more low-end torque.” In 2018, Ford told us the hybrid version would arrive in 2020. Whenever it does show, the phrase “V8-like performance” leads us to believe electrification surgery will be performed on a mill with fewer than eight cylinders.
We can probably expect to see some chassis upgrades to give the Mustang a better showing against the Camaro, even though the Camaro is expected to be saying goodbye as the new Mustang enters. With it looking possible that the Mustang will be the last ICE Pony Car standing before the competition goes electric or gives up, the Mustang might make make the most of being the last horse standing with raucous special editions. We know there’s a GT3 race car on the way. Ford and Multimatic campaigned the Mustang FR500C GT for 13 years, until 2019, but left road car buyers out of the fun. We hope Ford doesn’t do the same this time.
Inside is where the big money has been spent. Buyers will be greeted to a digital gauge cluster behind a flat-bottomed steering wheel. The cluster sweeps into a driver-focused infotainment system boasting a larger screen, all set into a cabin with upgraded material quality and feel.
If the speculated reveal date holds true, we only have 11 months to wait, assuming world events don’t head even further down the drain.
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