Ford confirms GT will get 483kW, hit 348km/h

Ford has announced its soon-to-be launched GT, that goes on sale this year, will be the fastest car it has ever made.

Powered by a new turbocharged 3.5-litre V6, according to the US car maker, the production GT will produce 483kW/746Nm, enabling it to top out at a maximum 348km/h.

Combining the new engine with a new seven-speed dual-clutch auto, Ford says the new engine produces 90 per cent of its torque peak from just 3500rpm.

Despite this, it hasn't yet revealed how fast the GT will be to 100km/h, but when tested it should easily eclipse the 2.9 seconds it takes for the recently-launched Lamborghini Aventador S to reach the same performance benchmark.

Weighing in at 1361kg, the Ford GT is also lighter than rivals like the Ferrari 488 GTB but is still some way off matching the lithe 1230kg kerb weight of the McLaren 675LT.

No matter, says Ford, because after some track testing at Canada's Calabogie Motorsports Park it found that the GT could record a lap time of 2min 9.8sec - around a second quicker than the 675LT.

The GT was also more than three seconds quicker than the Ferrari 458 Speciale (the precursor to the current 488 GTB).

Its superior pace, the car maker claims, is less about power and more about its advanced active aero and new suspension.

“The Ford GT is all about performance,” said Raj Nair, Ford's chief technical officer. “We achieved considerable weight savings with the carbon-fibre architecture. We then reinvested some of that savings into where it counts most – performance, specifically, the active dynamics. The result is an even faster car.”

It's still not known how much exactly the Ford GT will sell for globally with some estimates that it will cost buyers more than $650,000.

What we do know is the US car maker has already announced it will build just 1000 cars - twice as many as it originally planned.