A fully electric Mustang coupe isn’t coming anytime soon, but Ford’s CEO has left the door open for a hybrid to join the pony car range.
Speaking with Bloomberg in regards to a potential electric Mustang coupe, Ford CEO Jim Farley said “I don’t know about 10 years from now, but for the 10 years we’re in now, a partial electrification is the perfect solution for [high-performance] customers.”
“So when you say: Could it be a fully electric Mustang coupe? Nah, probably not. But could there be a partially electrified Mustang coupe—and it be world-class? Yeah.”
Mustang Dark Horse
He indicated there’s a danger of electric vehicles not being able to offer as emotional a driving experience.
“You can cherry-pick the electric drivetrain to get everything you need from it, but you don’t have to walk away from the emotional part of the experience,” he told Bloomberg.
“We cannot keep saying [companies are] all-electric or all-hybrid, and there’s nothing in between. That’s baloney,” he added.
“There’s going to be lots of grey degrees of partial electrification that’s still good for the planet. You can still have that emotional experience. I think that’s where we’re going to be for a while.”
Mustang GT convertible
Mr Farley says Ford will use Porsche as a bellwether for electrified performance vehicles.
“Let’s see what Porsche does. Let’s see if they take any electrification and put it in that 911. I find that pretty hard to believe,” he said.
This interview marks the first time a Ford executive has spoken about the possibility of a hybrid Mustang after a report last year said hybrid and all-wheel drive variants of the new S650 generation had been scrapped.
“We have a Mach-E, and that is our electrification story,” Eddie Kahn, vehicle engineering manager for the Mustang, told CarExpert last year at the time of the car’s official reveal.
Mustang EcoBoost coupe
“We really want to give our customer the choice between an ICE and electrification, so they can go either way,” he added, pouring cold water on the notion of a hybrid Mustang.
Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance, told Australian media earlier this year Ford considered developing a hybrid version of its iconic pony car, but didn’t follow through.
Reports of a hybrid S650 Mustang had been sparked by a Ford engineer’s LinkedIn profile, which listed him as working on two hybrid powertrains for the new pony car.
The new-generation Mustang will be offered with a choice of familiar 2.3-litre Ecoboost turbocharged four-cylinder engine and naturally aspirated 5.0-litre Coyote V8 engines.
The high-performance Dark Horse model will feature a tweaked version of the GT’s 5.0-litre V8.
Currently, only outputs for US-spec vehicles have been released. The new Dark Horse variant will boast 373kW of power and 567Nm of torque, up from the 362kW and 567Nm outputs of the GT with an optional active exhaust system (356kW and 563Nm with a standard exhaust).
The entry-level Ecoboost produces 235kW and 475Nm in the US.
Mustang EcoBoost convertible
None of the Mustang’s rivals currently offer a hybrid powertrain, while only the Dodge Challenger – which exits production this year – offers all-wheel drive, albeit only with its base V6.
If a hybrid Mustang does come to fruition, it will join a host of other hybridised Ford vehicles already on sale in multiple markets, such as the F-150 and Maverick utes.
Ford sells only one hybrid in Australia, the Escape PHEV, but it’s being retired this year.
