Ford teases electrified pony car

FORD has teased what could be the first electric Mustang, or its emissions-free performance crossover, in a new advertising campaign dubbed ‘The Future is Built’, showing a sleek front end with blue-illuminated pony logo heavily veiled in shadow.

 

Tweaking brightness and contrast settings also reveals new front-end styling that could be adopted by the next-generation Mustang, with more aggressively styled headlights, a heavily sculpted bonnet and smoother bumper design.

 

Most telling however, is the enclosed front grille and illuminated badge, denoting what is expected to be an electric powertrain that does not require an air intake.

 

However, it appears the trapezoidal grille also directs air into the vehicle at its edges, possibly for cooling of battery or ancillary components.

 

The teaser for the new electrified model follows a shot of the first-generation Mustang, the current pony car and a breakdown of the 5.0-litre Coyote V8, overlayed with the words “building for the next century”.

 

While little else is known about the new model, Ford has also been teasing an electric performance crossover, currently dubbed Mach 1 in its development phase, which will draw design inspiration from its iconic pony car and arrive globally in 2020.

 

A rear-end teaser was shown in September, which revealed a sketch of the mooted model wearing vertical tail-lights akin to the current Mustang.

 

Whether the front of the model shown in Ford’s latest advertising campaign is indeed the Mach 1 or an electrified version of the next-generation Mustang is currently unknown. 

 

The new advertisement features acclaimed Breaking Bad actor Bryan Cranston talking about Ford building for the future – while dressed in a number of roles including Apple’s Steve Jobs, the president of the United States and Data from Star Trek – instead of simply talking about it.

 

Meanwhile, Ford has also announced it will build an additional 350 units of its flagship GT supercar – the second time the brand has increased its allocation for the model since its announcement in 2015.

 

Initially, only 500 examples were to be made with Ford sending out invitations to prospective customers, before adding another 500-unit run in August 2016.

 

Ford cited “popularity” as the reason to raise the production cap as “more than 6500 applicants raced to sign up” for the 482kW/746Nm twin-turbocharged 3.5-litre EcoBoost V6-powered GT.

 

“The response to our Ford GT has been unprecedented, with initial demand outstripping supply by more than six-to-one,” Ford Performance director Hermann Salenbauc said. 

 

“By extending the Ford GT production run for a limited period, we’re able to maintain the exclusivity of the ultra-desirable supercar while offering the ownership experience to a great number of customers.”

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