Back in 2024, Ford made the bold announcement that by 2030, all of its ICE-powered vehicles would have hybrid assistance of some kind. Though the company didn’t come out and say it, this plan was the strongest suggestion yet that the Mustang pony car would finally be getting battery assistance.
Despite the seemingly daily-shifting trends of the industry, Ford has stuck by this pledge, saying in a June shareholders’ meeting that it still plans to bring hybrid power to its entire lineup. Now, a report from Ford Authority suggests the first-ever Mustang hybrid is already in development.
An electrified Mustang has been a long time coming. Ford originally announced plans for such a car all the way back in 2017, when it invested $700 million into the car’s Flat Rock, Michigan assembly plant. The original timeline had the Mustang hybrid dropping in 2020. Ford never officially confirmed why the car never arrived, though a worldwide pandemic probably had something to do with it.
Eight years later, we’re still waiting for another official announcement from Ford. In an interview with Bloomberg in 2023, CEO Jim Farley dropped a strong hint that a hybrid Mustang was on the table, squashing the possibility of a full electric variant in the process:
We cannot keep saying [companies are] all-electric or all-hybrid, and there’s nothing in between. That’s baloney. There’s going to be lots of gray degrees of partial electrification that’s still good for the planet. You can still have that emotional experience. I think that’s where we’re going to be for a while.
So when you say: Could it be a fully electric Mustang coupe? Nah, probably not. But could there be a partially electrified Mustang coupe—and it be world-class? Yeah.
A year later, Farley doubled down on those statements in an interview with Autocar, suggesting hybrid tech would be helpful for people looking to go fast:
[F]uture Mustangs are likely to offer hybrid power, to reduce carbon emissions and to improve performance. Farley said: “We’ve been testing and we really do believe partial electric powertrains work well for performance drivers.”
That leads us to today. Ford Authority now says the company has come as far as having a hybrid test mule in its prototype fleet:
[S]ources familiar with the matter have told Ford Authority that The Blue Oval currently has an S650 Ford Mustang hybrid model in operation – known internally as S650E. It’s unclear what sort of hybrid powertrain is present in this pony car – it could be a traditional hybrid or plug-in hybrid, however.
Timing-wise, this makes some sense. The current S650-generation Mustang debuted in 2022, so it’s due for a mid-cycle refresh. With the GTD now out the door, it’s possible Ford is going to use this refresh to launch a hybrid model, coinciding with its hybrid-only strategy in time for the 2030 deadline.
Rather than speculate further, I reached out to Ford for a comment, mentioning the company’s plan to fully hybridize the lineup. Here’s what a spokesperson said:
As you note, we said in 2024 that by the end of the decade we expect to offer hybrid powertrains across the entire Ford Blue lineup in North America. Beyond this, we don’t comment on speculation about future products.
(Ford Blue refers to the company’s lineup of internal-combustion-powered cars, including the Mustang, the Maverick, the Bronco, and the Explorer.)
After bringing all of these rumors, interviews, and reports together, this feels like a case of when, not if, the Mustang hybrid will arrive. Like I said earlier, Ford itself was going to launch a Mustang hybrid five years ago before it likely got sidelined by a pandemic-induced worldwide supply chain collapse. Even if the current administration is easing emissions rules, it’d make sense to introduce hybrid tech to the platform to keep the car competitive.
As for exactly when the hybrid Mustang might appear, I’m not so sure. But if Ford Authority’s report on the mules being tested is accurate, it’s possible we can see them as early as next year. If not, there’s always that 2030 deadline to stick to.
Top graphic image: Ford
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The post A Ford Mustang Hybrid Is Getting Likelier By The Day appeared first on The Autopian.
