This car will be the poor man's McLaren...

Smooth

Well Seasoned
Established Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2009
Messages
10,519
Location
Wisconsin
Sent from my iPhone using svtperformance.com
32328102.jpg
 

93 347 Cobra

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2002
Messages
2,463
Location
Denver

Makes sense. James Hackett is cost-cutting like hell. Why invest in a new chassis for a vehicle which doesn't move all that many units? Thank FCA for that. All they do is keep freshening an old, heavy, poorly handling and substantially outdated chassis for the Charger/Chally twins and sales are increasing. I'm sure that didn't go unnoticed at Ford. It's good news for us because I don't think many of us care for an all-new watered down car when Ford could make some kickass special editions and make a series of incremental improvements to the existing car.
 

biminiLX

never stock
Established Member
Premium Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2003
Messages
13,253
Location
Toledo, OH
Makes sense. James Hackett is cost-cutting like hell. Why invest in a new chassis for a vehicle which doesn't move all that many units? Thank FCA for that. All they do is keep freshening an old, heavy, poorly handling and substantially outdated chassis for the Charger/Chally twins and sales are increasing. I'm sure that didn't go unnoticed at Ford. It's good news for us because I don't think many of us care for an all-new watered down car when Ford could make some kickass special editions and make a series of incremental improvements to the existing car.
While not all wrong, you might be a bit harsh on the FCA twins. Formula is not totally flawed.
The S550 chassis is relatively new, and if not able to be shared economically across other vehicles, we could be stuck with worse.
I’d love to see the current chassis lightened and updated, or just like FCA, throw a ton of power at it :)
A Mcleran isn’t as comfortable as a street car anyway right?
-J
 

Snoopy49

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2012
Messages
6,690
Location
California
According to the links C0bra99 posted, the S650 (CD6) will more like a Challenger than the current Mustang.
Keep in mind, unidentified sources.

It’s Gonna Be Bigger

According to sources familiar with the strategy, but not connected to Ford, the CD6 Mustang replacement has been delayed by several years. When it arrives, it will be larger than the current car, closer to the Dodge Challenger in overall size if not girth.

The dimensional differences are significant. Based on its exterior dimensions, the Dodge Challenger is a full-size coupe, at 197.9 inches long on a 116.2-inch wheelbase, while the current Ford Mustang is 188.3 inches long and has a 107.1-inch wheelbase. Both cars’ widths are within 0.1 inch of each other, but the Challenger is taller, at 57.5 inches high versus the Mustang’s 54.4 inches.

Sources say that while the CD6 platform is designed to be highly flexible, there are certain components that can’t be scaled down as far as the current Mustang. Consider that the Challenger turned out to be as tall and long as it is because designers had to make the proportions work with the tall front cowl of its platform mates, the Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300. A Mustang with a longer wheelbase also would give it more EPA fuel-mileage leeway, based on its larger “footprint.”
 

biminiLX

never stock
Established Member
Premium Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2003
Messages
13,253
Location
Toledo, OH
That would be a terrible idea, it’s damn near too big now.
With mild weight reduction, brakes, and drag wheels my 2014 is hopefully under 3700# and I think it’s a pig.
I don’t want to consider anything over 4000# for my performance Mustang. If the next is Challenger size it’d be a huge mistake.
-J
 

Voltwings

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2013
Messages
2,739
Location
Houston
If they go to a larger platform it will let them have a coupe / sedan offering like the Challenger / Charger. I wouldn't put it past that happening. It's bitter sweet because it lets them amortize the cost over more units, but the cost savings still wont do much on an oversized platform (for a sports car) to begin with...
 

GTSpartan

Yield right!!!!
Established Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2004
Messages
9,343
Location
The Woods
These days in the automotive world, with a total obsession and focus on leveraging scale, it will be extremely difficult for a single model platform, selling somewhere ~100K or less a year, to stand on it’s own. The numbers just don’t work out.

FCA model has worked out brilliantly. With relatively modest updates over the years, they’ve been able to keep their offering relevant. Ford and GM dump unimaginable amounts of money into all new generations, only to see their sales drop off a cliff after 3 models years. Rinse and repeat. It’s a vicious cycle.

I think it is very likely that the next gen stang utilizes a shared platform. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I know we like to give the new Camaro a hard time, but it sits on a fantastic platform that is shared with other models. It can be done.
 
Last edited:

AustinSN

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Beer Money Bros.
Joined
Jan 29, 2014
Messages
6,408
Location
the plains
The Mustang doesn't need to have it's own chassis.

What Chevy did was right, pumped a ton of money into the platform for something sporty and then softened, stretched and added weight for their other cars. If Ford put the Mustang on the D4 chassis and tried that the other way around it would be a huge POS, regardless of how much power it made.

Chevy's downfall was how they built the car ergonomically and visually (subjective of course).
 

Voltwings

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2013
Messages
2,739
Location
Houston
Well FCA has Chrysler to share the Challenger / charger platform with the 300, and Chevy has Cadillac to share the Alpha chassis... seems like the clear answer is Ford needs to make a Lincoln coupe / sedan offering (even though the US as a whole is moving away from those, right...) to compete up-market and share the cost.
 

biminiLX

never stock
Established Member
Premium Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2003
Messages
13,253
Location
Toledo, OH
Well FCA has Chrysler to share the Challenger / charger platform with the 300, and Chevy has Cadillac to share the Alpha chassis... seems like the clear answer is Ford needs to make a Lincoln coupe / sedan offering (even though the US as a whole is moving away from those, right...) to compete up-market and share the cost.
Agreed, it would be very cool to have 2 and 4 door variants built off the Mustang platform.
There is no chance Ford stops production of the Mustang, so why not use that as the starting point in chassis design, but allow the base design to be stretched for a 4-door and accept both AWD and hybrid tech.
Now that they’ve invested into aluminum trucks, I can’t imagine they can’t expand that investment into a relatively low volume coupe/sedan platform.
-J
 

Voltwings

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2013
Messages
2,739
Location
Houston
Which is why they need to go up-market with Lincoln. The Chrysler 300 and Charger are literally the exact same car, but people buy both. A CTS is more or less a Camaro, but people buy both...
 

Snoopy49

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2012
Messages
6,690
Location
California
It’s hard for the mustang to share a platform when ford has chosen not to build any other car platforms at least domestically.

The Next Ford Mustang: What We Know
"As we’ve reported here for years, the next Ford Mustang is to migrate to the flexible new CD6 platform that underpins the latest Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator SUVs."

"The current Ford Mustang, known by aficionados as the S550, is the sole model on its rear-wheel-drive unibody architecture. After one generation spanning nine model years as a transverse-engine, front-drive-based SUV, the new Explorer is switching to the new, longitudinal-engine unibody CD6 architecture, while spawning the rebirth of the Aviator. These two three-row SUVs will provide the CD6 platform with the volume necessary to make the future Mustang cost effective for Ford Motor Company.

Last year, Ford sold 261,571 Explorers and only 75,842 Mustangs. By next year, the volume of CD6 platform vehicles could reach 300,000 units annually between just the Explorer and Aviator. An all-new Ford Edge also switches to the rear-drive bones, one source says, by 2021. But the Mustang won’t supplement the CD6 volume numbers until long afterward."
 

Franz

Speed Freak
Established Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2012
Messages
688
Location
Phoenix
Bruce McLaren rolled in his grave at the very notion that a 4,200 lb Mustang would be used in the same sentence as one of his cars. The new GT500 will be more reliable than a McLaren, but that's about it. McLaren is doing things in performance and handling that everyone else can only dream of right now.
 

Users who are viewing this thread



Top