2015 is going to be an important date for the Mustang family – 50th Anniversary puts it on crossroads where pony will definitely take new direction.
Hybrid probably…
That sounds awful to petrol heads, but while having ecology and fuel regulations in mind, hybrid V8 is better than petrol-only 2.0 liter 4-cyl or something familiar. Actually, extra miles does not bother too. Especially, if it is still “V” with “6” or “8” under the hood. The new engine is expected to be somewhere close to 5.0 – Ford would have not invested that much in development just to use it for a few years. The power should also remain somewhere in between of 400-440 HP. Europeans will probably be offered a 4-cylinder 2.3 liter 300 HP engine. 3.7 V6 is likely to survive the first few years of the next generation Mustang, but it should soon be converted to smaller displacement V6.
Independent suspension
2015 Mustang is being developed on an all-new global RWD platform. Mustang will have to be sold globally so the new platform is likely to be shared with other models. Due to this and such competition as BMW, Hyundai, Audi coupes, suspension will probably be independent. It will get both hand drives too, cause Mustang is going to aggressively expand to Australian, British and Japanese markets.
New design direction
Retro will die. Design will face major changes. Just like it did in 1974 – huge contrast. Due to CAFE regulations it will have to be lighter, smaller. Ford’s designer, J Mays, recently said of the 2015 Mustang: “We can’t lose the Mustang DNA, which is really important, but we’ve got to signal that Mustang has got another 50 years of life left in it. In order to do that we are going to have to take a bit more of a stretch with the car, bring all of our Mustang faithful along with us.” This means we will still recognize Mustang immediately, but it is going to be fully different too.
The 2015 Mustang will make its debut in 2014 at the N.Y. Auto Show for the 50th Anniversary.