Yahoo Autos Ford Says It's Not Giving Up on V-8s or Stick Shifts in Mustangs
Sad as it may be to hear, the American V-8 muscle car segment is nearly gone. The Dodge Challenger and Chevrolet Camaro are no longer on sale, leaving the category with only one survivor, the Ford Mustang, in its ranks. But while Chevrolet and Dodge are leaning into future products without V8s, Ford says it's keeping the iconic engine around until the government forces its hand.
“As long as we can possibly sell our V-8, we're going to," Laurie Transou, global chief engineer for the Ford Mustang, said to Drive of Australia.
Helping keep the eight-pot 'Stang alive: the other, more efficient vehicles that share its name. “I would say that we're in a unique position in our market right now. For Mustang, we actually offer a lot of different variants," she continued. "We have the Mustang Mach-E … so we have those variants. We have the EcoBoost and we have the 5.0-liter [V-8].”
Her comments fall right in line with those of CEO Jim Farley, who in January said that, "we have EcoBoost, we have the Dark Horse now, and we’re going to continue to invest. And if we’re the only one on the planet making a V-8 affordable sports car for everyone in the world, so be it." In other words, Ford sees the V-8 as one more way to draw buyers from other brands.
According to Joe Bellino, global brand manager for Mustang, the company is stoked to be the only V8 game in town. “I'd say, I think we're very proud to [be] still making the V8 and when it comes to everyone else, I think that makes us really proud of what we do. And parking on that, that's our history, right…? V8 Mustangs and what we're doing still. Not everybody can say that. And as Jim mentioned, doubling down on it, making it a priority of ours, and it's a hallmark of Mustang.”
On top of that, Ford confirms that it'll continue building a manual gearbox for the Mustang as long as possible, too. “We're constantly looking at what our customers want. And making sure we do everything we can to deliver what they want," Transou told Drive. “I would say what our customers want right now is a manual transmission."
Ultimately, all of this comes down to customer demand. Should there come a day the market no longer clamors for a V-8 or a three-pedal gearbox, Ford would presumably move on. And, of course, theoretical government regulation could make it impossible to sell new cars with eight-cylinder gas-powered engines at some point down the line. Until then though... enjoy the continued thunder of those Ford V-8s.
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