[Rex Raider]

“Cars are built all over the world, but Mustang could come only from Ford. Like the F-150 is to Ford trucks, Mustang is the soul of Ford cars. A pure performer, it’s the most affordable 300-horsepower car made and the best rear-drive performance car under $20,000.” - Phil Martens, Group Vice President, North America Product Creation

Since its dramatic 1964 introduction, Ford Mustang has been the icon of American performance and style, capturing hearts worldwide. For 2005, Mustang combines an all-new, fully modern architecture with all the soul that makes a Mustang a Mustang – bold style, a brawny engine and rear-wheel-drive excitement.

In short, every inch of Mustang is new – yet it staunchly remains the genuine article – “America’s Car” for 40 years.

FULL STORY HERE

 

[nsap]

Now we just need a Camaro to kill that thing! :lol:

 

[tgagneguam]

J. Mays et al. have done a sweet job with this Mustang. The more I read about the new 'Stang, the more I'm impressed. Nice engine, nice chassis, nice performance, nice design (*inside* and out)... all at a relatively low price. Dare I say this one, at least initially, won't need incentives?

It's nice to see Detroit (and I mostly mean Ford and GM, now that ChryCo. is essentially German) building some fantastic CARS these days. I'm a bit tired of the ole see-saw thing: as Chevy increases share, Ford loses share, or vice versa. It would be nice to watch both GM and Ford wax and Toyota and Honda wane for once.

 

[usa1]

Originally posted by tgagneguam@Jan 3 2004, 09:30 AM
It's nice to see Detroit (and I mostly mean Ford and GM, now that ChryCo. is essentially German) building some fantastic CARS these days. I'm a bit tired of the ole see-saw thing: as Chevy increases share, Ford loses share, or vice versa. It would be nice to watch both GM and Ford wax and Toyota and Honda wane for once.

I agree 100%. I hope these new products from GM and Ford can help them both increase marketshare in the coming years. If the done well, they should. We'll see. The media is fond of kicking Detroit and there are years of bad feelings over past poor products to overcome, so it will be a long, hard climb back for both of them that will takes years and years of consistent performance.

Mark

 

[Innotech]

its called a harsh kick into reality. GM and Ford were living in the past, where their marketshare was high because there was no competition. they turned out crap, and now they are finding that CRAP does not sell anymore with Japanese competition eating marketshare at prodigious rates. They simply got back up and stepped back into the ring. Go Detroit!

 

[budweisert]

rex,
do you have any larger pictures of the mustang that you could post?

also, do they make those pictures of the c6 in poster size?

thanx
Budweisert

 

[Rex Raider]

More Mustang Pics will be avalable as soon as Naias starts.
As for bigger C6 Pics, yes, I have the same three I posted. They are very large. the ones I showed were 1024Xwhatever, the big ones are 3000Xwhatever

 

[banzai79]

Now if only we could order one of these sweet rides with an LS2!

 

[TAFreak]

“Cars are built all over the world, but Mustang could come only from Ford. Like the F-150 is to Ford trucks, Mustang is the soul of Ford cars. A pure performer, it’s the most affordable 300-horsepower car made and the best rear-drive performance car under $20,000.” - Phil Martens, Group Vice President, North America Product Creation

Is that guy from Ford implying that a 300 horsepower Mustang is going to be available for under 20k?

If so, the new Mustang is going to kick some SERIOUS ***.

 

[ramairman01]

<_<
While I like the basic premise of the new 'Stang, I'm disappointed by a few things . . First, it appears that some of the 'Shelbyized' touches on the car are gone, namely the forward mounted hood air ducts and the scoops on the side. It looks like they're going for more of a '65-66 look, whereas the concept car had more touches of the 68. Also, only 300 horses?? I thought initially it was supposed to have closer to 400. That's gonna leave it a little anemic compared to the GTO (good for us Poncho fans), but the price point is nice. Overall, though, a decent effort. Will be curious to see the Cobra version.

 

[Dumb_Ass_2003]

Wow those pictures really don't do anything for me. I have to admit, while I hate mustangs, I did like the concept, but this is just borring in comparison <_<.

But hey we only have like 2 or 3 years to wait for our Camaro

 

[parakleets]

When it was only the Beetle and PT Cruiser, retro was cool. Especially considering that these vehicles were only supposed to be niche players, in the larger econo-box class. Now we have the unsuccessful Ford Thunderbird, the just-arriving Chevy SSR, the upcoming Chevy HHR, and the "new" Mustang. It has been said by GM's Bob Lutz, and some folks posting on this site, that retro styling offers nowhere to go, as a follow-up, unless you pick another model year to emulate. What is going to be next for the Mustang? What happens when the inital enthusiasm wanes, for this high-volume model, as it did for the limited production Beetle/T-Bird/PT? Of course, this thing will most likely sell well, because it has no competition (only 17,000 GTOs to be imported annually vs. 90-100,000 stateside manufactured Stangs). When GM and Chrysler again enter the the fray, I hope that it will be with future-thinking designs, that will quickly steal sales and stoplight victories, from the retro-pony.

 

[TAFreak]

Even though The Boob is correct about retro styling, he doesn't realize on thing:

BORING CARS DON'T SELL.

I'm suprised he's doing this to GM, he did okay with a few of his projects at Dodge (currently only the Viper comes to mind, but there's bound to be a few more).

Also, did anyone else read that as 300 horsepower for UNDER $20,000? That's awesome, for 30k you could have a Viper killer... or hell... a Ford GT killer.

 

[chadbarb99]

Oh Camaro, CAMARO, where are you Camaro, we have a big problem!!!!

 

[Nocturn_Bird]

ugh TAFREAK shut up already luts has done more for GM then anyone else in the past decade, just because you dont like the GTO is no reason to critisize an entire company. Secondly the #1 selling car in the US is the camry...pretty damn boring, and the #1 selling vehicle in the US for the past 25 years has been the F-150...also pretty damn boring.

I predict that this mustang will be HUGE ....at first and then likely die out because as it is people are sick of the mustang, now with this cheaper, more catchy version out, people are going to be getting REALLY tired of it pretty fast I think. Im suspecious of the 300HP for 20K, I wouldnt be surprised if they bumped that up. The interrior isn't to bad, but Ford has a long way to go to redeem itself on the mustangs interrior.

 

[bearishpeter]

Originally posted by TAFreak@Jan 4 2004, 01:48 AM
Even though The Boob is correct about retro styling, he doesn't realize on thing:

BORING CARS DON'T SELL.

I'm suprised he's doing this to GM, he did okay with a few of his projects at Dodge (currently only the Viper comes to mind, but there's bound to be a few more).

Also, did anyone else read that as 300 horsepower for UNDER $20,000? That's awesome, for 30k you could have a Viper killer... or hell... a Ford GT killer.

If you look at the quote, Phil Martens is saying two things about the Mustang as a brand and not as one car. One is Ford produces the most affordable 300 HP car. I disagree. And two, Ford has the best RWD performance car under $20,000. I disagree. He is not saying that the Mustang will be a 300 HP under $20,000 car. Impossible. They would lose their ***.

I thing that has been cleared up!!

 

[lionfish]

for those who think the production car is a far cry from the concept. something i wipped up.

 

[yoblues]

A. This car will sell big, REAL BIG. Even though some suit/dope put those horrible lights in the grill of the GT ( the V-6 version looks better), it will sell. It is not going to ware out it's welcome. HELLO GM FANS! The Mustang is still here and the F-Bird and Camaro are dead, along with all the other pony cars. You might hate Ford but they have this particular niche figured out. B. It is time for GM (LUTZ) to get it's head out of it's butt and get that Camaro on the street long before 2007. GM dropped the ball here BIG TIME.

 

[doh]

They killed the F car for a reason. To bring it right back is probaly a foolish money investment for GM. but not a foolish investment in advertising. I mean look at the original pony car fights.

So keep up with cars like G6's till the time is right, Mustang sales here used to out number F-car sales 8-1 but what did Ford have to sell the young buyers? they had no Grand Ams, Sunfire GTs, Monte Carlo ss's and so on.

 

[MN12Fan]

First of all, I believe the new Mustang is going to be a huge hit for Ford not only because it's the "next" Mustang with all the bells-and-whistles of a new model but also because it's symbolic of the Ford Motor Company, which means if it were to fail, the company would be dealt a blow of catastrophic proportions because of the Mustang's 40 year history - something Ford will not permit. Second, given the fact that Toyota's sales now exceed Ford and they plan on doing the same to GM within the next five years in order to become the number one auto maker in the world, I would imagine that it would be in GM's interest not to engage in a frivolous pissing match with Ford over the new Mustang anytime soon because it'll only lead to another pointless argument over trivial issues and to more sales lost to the Japanese from people who just don't care. Finally, the fact of the matter is that GM had plenty of notice that Ford was going to make an all-new, retro-styled Mustang and would have countered accordingly with an all-new Camaro, or equivalent, if they thought it was a good idea. Given the fact that a new Camaro will not be built until two years after the new Mustang, if at all, it would seem that GM does not have the project very high on its list of priorities. Who knows, maybe GM wants to follow the "reborn" Mustang a few years after with a "reborn" Camaro like how they debuted originally back in the '60s, I just wonder why they would have to stop production altogether in order to pull it off.

P.S.
Just to clear up any misconceptions, here's some rough stats and figures:

Engines:
Mustang (Base): All-alluminum 4.0L SOHC V6 (Modified from type used in Explorer); performance: 202-hp, 235-ft/lbs Torque
Mustang GT: All-alluminum 3-Valve 4.6L SOHC V8 (Derived from its 2-Valve predecessor); performance: 300-hp, 315-ft/lbs Torque

A 5-speed manual or a 5-speed automatic can be had in either model. The "initial" estimates of 400-hp+ only applied to the concept and were on a totally different engine, a Supercharged 4.6L DOHC V8. Such performance numbers and applicable power plants will probably be reserved for special, limited-edition versions of the Mustang such as the Mach 1. Special Vehicle Team Mustangs will likely offer even higher displacement/performance numbers (the current rumor is a 650-hp 6.8L V10 or the Ford Shelby Cobra Concept's 6.4L V10).

Hells Bells this was long!