New Ford Mustang Performance Details Revealed – Up to 500 HP Available

First revealed back in September this year, the new seventh generation Ford Mustang sees the mighty Blue Oval marque continue the lineage of its iconic ‘Pony Car’ lineage. Ford confirmed both the availability of a V8 mill and a manual transmission option initially, but no performance figures were mentioned then.

Now, the firm has finally revealed said figures it shied away from telling at launch, and they look mighty promising to say the least. The least the new Mustang will offer is 315 HP and 475 NM generated by the 2.3-litre turbocharged 4-cyl EcoBoost mill powering base variants.

Said new figures are marginal hikes over the existing EcoBoost-powered current Mustang’s outputs of 314 HP and 474 NM, and that’s despite Ford’s claims that the mill has been redeveloped using its new Modular Power Cylinder (MPC) engine architecture to feature a new bore-to-stroke ratio, port and direct fuel injection systems, variable cam timing, integrated exhaust gas recirculation, as well as twin-scroll turbos.

Though the output gains are marginal, the redeveloped EcoBoost mill will at least offer greater fuel efficiency. It will also be paired with either a manual or automatic transmission options to send drive exclusively to the rear wheels.

Moving up to the GT-badged variants, the ‘Coyote’ cross-plane V8 mill is retained here, and it offers 480 HP and 563 NM, or a slightly higher 486 HP and 567 NM when primed with the active-valve performance exhaust kit. Even without the latter, this mill still improves output over its predecessor, which delivers 450 HP and 556 NM in the outgoing Mustang GT models.

Again, both the 10-speed automatic and 6-speed manual transmission options are offered with this mill, which sends drive to the rear wheels.

At the top of the new Mustang range is the new and track-focused Dark Horse variant, and it harnesses an uprated version of the GT variant’s Coyote V8 that develops 500 HP and 567 NM instead. This mill gets a balanced crankshaft, strengthened camshafts, as well as forged piston connecting rods, all of which allow this mill to withstand higher pressure and piston speeds.

As a result, this version of the Coyote V8 powering the Dark Horse sees said variant stand as the most powerful non-Shelby Mustang ever made to date. It’s also the most powerful 5.0-litre V8 Mustang ever conceived in said model’s lineage too. For context, the outgoing Mustang Mach 1 packs a V8 that outputs ‘merely’ 470 HP and 556 NM.

Given these power figures revealed by Ford, fans – and prospects – of the next generation Mustang have little to worry about in terms of performance, given how promising things are looking thus far.