World's most efficient Mustang

Meet the new solar-powered Ford Mustang. It's made of lightweight carbon-fibre, has all the mod cons, like a reversing camera and satellite navigation, and get this: it even has four doors!

Closer inspection proves the car is actually the Sunswift Violet, the sixth-generation Sunswift solar car built by engineering students at the University of New South Wales (USNW).

But how good are those Mustang headlights?

Currently undergoing a 4800km shakedown test before competing in the 2017 World Solar Challenge, the ultra efficient Mustang/Sunswift will compete against 47 other teams from 21 countries in a grueling 3021km race from Darwin to Adelaide.

It's essentially a north to south solar-powered sprint, and it begins on Sunday October 8.

According to UNSW, the top speed of the Mustang/Sunswift is 130km/h, a feat assisted by a kerb mass of less than 400kg and a drag coefficient of just 0.2Cd.

With a range of around 800km using the solar cells, the car is propelled by a pair of 1.5kW electric motors which, according to UNSW, run at 98 per cent efficiency.

The idea is that budding young engineers and scientists work together to put solar-powered cars on the map. Although Honda and Nissan have previously fielded international works teams in the World Solar Challenge, and Ford Australia has worked with the Deakin University (Geelong) team, mainstream car companies are not yet scrambling to develop such vehicles, but their commercial introduction is not impossible.

Sunswift team leader Simba Kuestler said: "Violet looks like a family sedan, but uses as much power as a four-slice toaster."

The second part is true but the resemblance to a Mustang is uncanny, particularly at the front end.

Kuestler continued: "She's got entertainment and air conditioning systems, including navigation, reverse camera parking sensors, and there's even Wi-Fi aboard. And she's got plenty of front and rear boot space."

Ford, are you listening?