SPY PICS: Ford to revive four-cylinder Mustang SVO?

A hot four-cylinder Ford Mustang that reinvents the SVO versions of the third-generation 1980s pony car could be in the works for introduction in the USA later this month.

The speculation follows increasing levels of background chatter suggesting Ford is planning to inject the four-cylinder version of its recently-updated Mustang with an extra dose of power, creating a bridge between the entry model and the 339kW 5.0-litre GT V8 flagship.

Although nothing is known for sure, a likely contender for an SVO four-cylinder Mustang would be a version of the 257kW 2.3-litre EcoBoost last seen in the Ford Focus RS.

The relative ease with which it could slot under the bonnet of the Mustang, and the extra urge it would deliver above the current 224kW turbo-four, would seem a formula that would keep both the product-planning and accounting departments at Ford happy.

Of course that’s if a new-generation SVO Mustang was to remain a four-cylinder. Ford has V6 EcoBoost options available too, including the 242kW 2.7-litre version currently employed in the F-150 pickup. But considering the engineering investment that would be required to slot a V6 configuration into the engine bay, for maybe an incremental power boost, that seems an unlikely route for Ford to follow.

The somewhat fuzzy photos of a test mule circulating Ford’s Dearborn test track show a number of things suggesting this is not your regular four-cylinder Mustang.

Larger wheels (maybe 19-inch), an offset in-grille pony logo, black bonnet stripes, a more prominent boot lid spoiler and quad exhausts – plus covered badgework on the boot lid and front flanks –all suggest something is going on with the base-level Mustang.

The original hot-four version of the third-generation Mustang was developed in the early 1980s by Ford’s fledgling Special Vehicle Operations department, stemming from the world-wide oil crisis of the time that forced Detroit into a navel-gazing period in which it re-thought the environmental aspects of its preponderance of big, heavy, V8-powered passenger cars.

SVO four-cylinder Mustangs were powered in 1984 by a 2.3-litre turbo-four engine – the same capacity as today’s car – originally producing 130kW/280Nm before topping out at 153kW/336Nm in 1985, then dropping to 149kW/330Nm in 1986.

With industry observers noting that April is frequently a big month for Mustang news, it shouldn’t be too long before Ford’s imminent pony car plans are revealed. And with Ford

Australia sharing the new-gen pony car’s global sales successes, it would be no surprise if down-under figured as one of the hot-four Mustang’s target markets.