Ford Mustang V8 will survive emissions squeeze

The Ford Mustang V8 dynasty is not dead – not by a long shot.

Reports that the new-generation Ford Mustang’s 5.0-litre V8 will mark the end of the bloodline for the famous V8 appear to be premature, with senior Ford executives pouring cold water on suggestions of an early retirement.

Ford Performance Motorsports global director, Mark Rushbrook, who plays an integral role in developing high-performance Ford vehicles and their engines for race and road applications, stated: “We have not identified an ending [for the V8].”

He agreed that emissions regulations will make internal combustion engines more challenging to develop and market in future, but wouldn’t put an end date on the V8.

“Who knows honestly with regulations, but as long as we can we will [build V8s for Mustang].”

The upgraded 5.0-litre Coyote V8 that powers the just-launched seventh-generation Mustang, which is set to arrive in Australia in early 2024, belts out a cool 500hp or 373kW in top-spec Dark Horse trim.

The rumbling V8 is core to the vehicle’s personality, said the new seventh-gen Mustang’s chief vehicle integration engineer Tim Smith. But he wouldn’t be drawn on how its 5.0-litre V8 will evolve to keep it compliant with CO2 emissions regulations.

“The V8 is so iconic. We’re always testing everything – different things,” said the Ford engineer, parrying questions around whether it could introduce turbochargers, hybrid modules or a smaller capacity to remain in showrooms.

“Regulations are going to get tighter and tighter and tighter and we’re going to keep working to keep pace with those.

“I’m not going sit here and tell you in 300 years we’re going to be selling V8 Mustangs. I’m not going to tell you what year we’ll stop, because I have no idea,” he insisted.

Rushbrook implied that in future the V8 may be limited to some markets, such as the USA and Australia, while others such as Europe may miss out – a strategy that could make another generation of Coyote V8 viable, even with stricter emissions regulations.

“As we’ve seen with the fact that we’re on the fourth-generation [Coyote V8], and engineers get smarter every day, and from doing the third generation they learned a lot that fed into the fourth generation,” said the senior Ford Performance exec.

“And there’s plenty learned during the fourth generation that you could technically do a fifth generation if and when it makes sense. I think it’s a matter of what the regulations are doing,” said Rushbrook, who knows all too well that the recently launched one-make race series with the Mustang Dark Horse R would likely fall flat without a V8 engine.

Smith addressed rumours of the Mustang coupe being killed off in favour of more SUVs, EVs and crossovers such as the Mustang Mach-E.

“People are always saying it’s the last one. But if I say Ford in a word association game, the next word for most people is Mustang. Mustang isn’t going anywhere,” he said.

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