Official: Ford confirms Mustang for Oz

Ford has committed to releasing its next-generation Mustang in Australia and New Zealand, as it was widely expected do at an unprecedented future model reveal in Sydney today.

The 2014 Mustang is expected to be revealed for the first time globally at the Detroit auto show in January, before joining in with a whole variety of 50th anniversary celebrations scheduled for North America in April and going on sale here in right-hand drive form the following year.

“The car has a unique connection with customers,” said Ford Vice-President of Global Marketing, Sales and Service and Lincoln, Jim Farley.

“It speaks to who we are – allowing you to enjoy the freedom of the journey like never before.

“One Ford is opening the door for Australians and consumers around the world to our best-ever portfolio of vehicles and giving them new reasons to look again at Ford. The Ford Mustang is one of these vehicles.”

The next-gen Mustang should go on sale in Australia in 2015, with a starting price potentially below $50,000 if we get the four-cylinder turbo-petrol version.

Also on the shopping list for Australia are 230kW 3.7-litre V6 and 320kW Coyote V8 engines. We can only hope for the mooted – but not confirmed – near-500kW supercharged 5.8-litre Shelby GT500.

Codenamed S550, the 2015 Mustang will ride on an all-new platform and wear dramatic new sheetmetal inspired by the 2011 EVOS concept (pictured).

Initially available only in 2+2 coupe form, it will again be joined by a convertible.

motoring.com.au sources say the first four-cylinder Mustang will share significantly with Falcon ads that car's 2.0-litre engine was the first rear-drive, longitudinal application of Ford’s new EcoBoost four-cylinder engine globally.

While the second-generation ‘Nano’ EcoBoost turbo-four will grow to 2.3 litres for the base Mustang (and upcoming Focus RS), development by Australian engineers of the 2.0-litre FG Falcon was a direct precursor for the entry-level Mustang, which will also feature the Falcon’s six-speed 6R80 automatic transmission.

Noise, vibration and harshness lessons learned in adapting the inherently coarser direct-injection engine to the Falcon will also be incorporated into the next Mustang.
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However, Ford’s new performance leader will also ride on suspension developed in Australia, including a derivative of the Virtual Pivot alloy front-end engineered for the SZ Territory and FG Falcon and an aluminium version of the Control Blade independent rear suspension developed for the same vehicles.

The shift from a live rear axle to IRS may not please Mustang customers with a penchant for drag racing, but should bring better road holding and ride quality. Unfortunately, while at least three Mustang engineering mules have been spotted featuring the new alloy IRS in Victoria, the more exotic new rear-end will not be seen under next year’s final Falcon, the FH.

There is a certain irony in the technical teaming up of Mustang and Falcon, as the original 1964–and-a-half (so dubbed because of its introduction in April 1964) pony car was based on the second generation North American Falcon.

Now heading toward the end of its fifth generation, more than 8.5 million Mustangs have been sold since launch, the vast bulk in North America.

The sixth generation goes global as part of the blue oval’s One Ford campaign, which attempts to spread the company’s model lineup far and wide rather than developing regional overlapping models. That means we get Mustang but also plays a role in killing the locally-developed Falcon and Territory.

This won’t be the first time Mustang has been on-sale here as the original Hardtop was sold in Australia between 1965 and 1973 and the Liftback Mustang II between 1974 and 1978. FPV predecessor Tickford sold locally-converted RHD fourth generation Mustang coupes and convertibles here between 2001 and 2003.

motoring.com.au's coverage of Ford Australia's Go Further announcement

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