No Ford Mustang GTD for Australia

The Nürburgring-slaying 815hp Ford Mustang GTD – the most potent production version of the iconic Pony car yet – won’t be offered in Australia because of one detail.

Speaking with carsales, Greg Goodall, the chief program engineer for the or 608kW, 325km/h Mustang GTD, said the limited-edition track-ready muscle car will be built in left-hand drive only and therefore won’t be sold in Oz, or any right-hand drive market for that matter.

“As of right now, it’s left-hand drive only and it’s not going to Australia,” Goodall told carsales.

A spokesperson for Ford Australia confirmed the decision, saying the Mustang GTD won’t be offered locally.

However, the Mustang GTD’s chief engineer refused to completely close the door on a right-hand drive version of the vehicle, adding: “But I can’t speak for what may or may not happen in the future [with GTD]”.

The Ford Mustang is sold in Australia in various guises, including fast back and convertible body styles, and the most powerful version of the all-American muscle car sold Down Under right now is the track-tuned Mustang Dark Horse.

Quizzed on just how limited the fastest and most powerful production version of the iconic Pony car would be, Goodall wouldn’t be drawn on production details, beyond saying a ‘limited run’ of vehicles would be available for the ‘relatively exclusive’ model.

Ford Australia has since confirmed that while total production numbers won’t be revealed, it intends to build “approximately 300-700 units per model year”.

“We’ve not said numbers,” said Goodall, explaining “we did put applications out for the first two years in multiple markets and had a great response.”

Conquering the famed Nürburgring in just 6:57.685, the Mustang GTD is officially the fastest vehicle from an American car-maker to lap the 20km-plus Green Hell in less than seven minutes.

Power comes from a supercharged 5.2-litre V8 engine good for an eye-watering 608kW/900Nm. The GTD’s claimed top speed is 325km/h.

In 60 years of production, no Mustang has achieved those numbers.

But according to Goodall, the Mustang GTD wasn’t just built for the track, despite the fact so much of its tuning was carried out at circuits across the US and in Germany.

“From day one the primary objective was sub-seven-minutes around the Nürburgring. That was the main goal of the program and the majority of decisions and choices we made on the program were targeted towards that.

“That being said, I don’t want to use the word ‘only’ because there’s a lot more to performance than just lap time. So what we want to do is deliver the lap time but also deliver a great customer experience”.

Goodall said the Mustang GTD’s versatility will allow owners to comfortably take their GTD out on date night, or drive it to the track, before switching to track mode – where the GTD squats around 40mm lower and its ‘optimal performance’ is revealed.

“Lap time is important because it’s a claim we made to the world that that’s how we’re going to compete with the European supercars, but the team was also passionate about giving an all-around great customer experience.

“So, it’s lap time and it’s comfort and every other kind of measurable you can have around performance. It’s not just [how fast it can lap] the Nürburgring.”

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