When you’ve already built the craziest pony car of all time, where do you go from there? Well, a new report claims that Ford is getting ready to reveal a brand new sports car in January, and we can’t help but get a little bit excited. Partly because any new sports car in this era of automotive uncertainty is welcome, and partly because it sounds like whatever’s coming is being engineered by Ford Racing.
If you’ve been following Formula 1, you probably know that Ford will be the engine supplier for Red Bull and Racing Bulls come 2026, and with next season’s launch coming up in a couple of months, it’ll soon be time to roll out the red carpet. It’s the perfect opportunity for a little surprise, and that’s exactly what a new report from Autocar claims is coming.
Ford Racing is on the cusp of unveiling its first “all-new” sports car since its motorsport and road-car operations were merged.
At its 2026 season launch event on 15 January, it will provide a first glimpse at the new car, described by Ford Racing chief Mark Rushbrook as “a testament to how deeply we’re integrating our racing innovation into the vehicles you drive every day”.
Hang on a second. With the Mustang covering the mass-market sport coupe segment and the Mustang GTD taking things all the way up to Porsche 911 GT3 RS territory, where would a new sports car fit in? There’s a chance it might just go all the way to the tippy-top, which isn’t exactly unprecedented.
The first reborn Ford GT debuted for 2005. The second? A little over a decade later. Given past patterns, it wouldn’t be unprecedented for Ford to reboot the franchise again, although it would have to be in a different form than last time, considering Multimatic has its hands full building the Mustang GTD. While the second-generation Ford GT did secure a GTE-Pro class win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it didn’t secure an outright win. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that faster classes of car race at Le Mans, the latest and greatest of which is the Le Mans Hypercar class. As of 2025, only one Le Mans Hypercar has been homologated for road use, the Aston Martin Valkyrie.
If anything, the Mustang GTD has proven that there’s appetite for mega-money Fords, provided they’re crazy and emotive enough. Successfully selling a Mustang for more than $300,000, combined with current resale values of second-generation Ford GTs, suggests there’s headroom for Ford to do something really crazy.
Then again, we might not see a teaser of a new GT in January. After all, automakers have stretched the definition of “all-new” before, and rumors have been flying about several other intriguing projects. At a dealer meeting last year, Ford reportedly showed off a rendering of a Mustang Raptor, an all-American off-road pony car that would conceptually blend the principles behind cars like the Porsche 911 Dakar and Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato with a V8 backbeat. Regardless, all eyes will be on the blue oval come January.
Top graphic image: Ford
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