Ford Mustang could spawn 86 rival

Ford’s new sixth-generation Mustang will be offered as a fastback coupe and convertible when it arrives in Australia in 2015, but other body styles and even separate models could be developed from its platform in future, according to some Ford executives.

During the Mustang's Sydney launch last night, Ford's Vice President of Product Development for Asia Pacific and Africa, Trevor Worthington, said that the Mustang platform was all-new and the unique vehicle architecture could "presumably" spawn new models.

"I mean if you've got something ... designed to do what this car is designed to do or use it for something else, if you wanted to [you could]," explained Worthington, an Australian who knows a thing or two about rear-wheel drive architecture.

The former Ford Australia product development boss was integral to resurrecting the Falcon with the BA model in 2002 and developing the Barra 4.0-litre six-cylinder engine.

Talking to motoring.com.au about the 2015 Mustang platform, he intimated new vehicles could be spun off the new architecture, but said there were currently no plans to do so.

An affordable, cut-price sports car like the sold-out Toyota 86 is a possibility, but a more likely progression is a traditional hard-top version of the Mustang.

"It's a bespoke architecture. It's totally unique. It doesn’t share anything with other platforms," said Shanghai-based Worthington of the Mustang's platform.

Worthington said that Ford's luxury brand Lincoln won't leverage the Mustang for its own products, but that the platform has the capability to be used in different applications.

"If we chose to make a Lincoln version of the Mustang -- I can't imagine ever doing that -- but if somebody smarter than me decided to do that, then yeah you could use that architecture," he said.

When the Australia-made and engineered Ford Falcon E8 platform is killed off in 2016, the Mustang platform will be Ford's only rear-wheel drive chassis architecture.

Despite Australia's expertise in rear-drive vehicle platforms, Worthington said that contrary to information from Ford sources previously, the new Mustang platform had virtually no Australian input.

Ford Asia Pacific Chief Designer Craig Metros said the design of the vehicle was also finalised in the US, with very little input from Australia, which was one of a number of Ford design studios to propose an early design.

"Mustang is a designer’s dream. You're always going get designers from around the world that are going to want to weigh in. But the design was really led out Dearborn (USA)," he said.

Metros explained that the new design is still "pure Mustang" but with new levels of "refinement and sophistication".

Asked if we'd see more interpretations of the Mustang or even new models, the regional design chief said there's lots of scope, particularly as it's now a global platform with access to more markets.

"There's a lot we can do with Mustang," he said. "I can't talk about the details at this moment, but there's a great heritage we can draw from and I guess I would just say 'stay tuned'.

"The future is very bright," he concluded.

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