“What are the potential differences between those people who
love Mustangs and those we hope to entice? ...What we saw was maybe a little
more female, a little bit younger, but not much difference. The big thing they brought
up was they just want the latest design and technology. And the biggest
opportunity that we identified was, although we’ve made a lot of improvements,
there were certain people who... didn’t see how the car had progressed since
’05,” Steve explained. “So the people who were knowledgeable about Mustang love
what’s been going on (and) saw all these dramatic changes, but there were a lot
of people who didn’t because in their viewpoint, the car hadn’t changed enough.
And, they weren’t investigating it. So that was a good moment for us to really
appreciate that, and there’s nothing like a new, shiny penny in a car to change
that vision.”
“You’ll appreciate there’s a lot more to Mustang, all the
physical aspects... the racing, the featured marques... whether it was a
Bullitt or a Boss, SVO or Mach 1, you name it, all of that has been part of the
secret sauce that people have really liked... pull it all together, we were
pretty lucky. Here we have a brand that globally people were aware of it, they
understood what it meant, and they found it really favorable,” Steve said.
“Two, they liked what they saw in terms of what was happening, and they
encouraged us to continue on an evolution of Mustang. A lot of people said, ‘We
know you know what this car is, and you’ve kept true to that. Keep it going,
just keep pushing the capability like you are...’”
“The final piece I want to bring up... [and] is so
important, is most people know this car is important to Ford Motor Company. You
know, we had a lot of engineers who said, ‘I came to Ford because I wanted to
work on this program. I wanted to work on this car.’ Whether it’s Bill Ford all
the way through our dealers, it really lives in their hearts and souls, and
people know that,” Steve concluded. “And the fact that they know how important
that is – and that the people who work on Mustang are the people who drive it,
and race it, and show it, and just enjoy it fully – it means a lot. It’s one of
the key reasons Mustang is as good as it is, and has been over the years. And
the fact that they acknowledged that tells us quite a bit.”
And with that, we were ushered outside to see the ’15
unveiled. As we made the short walk into the private courtyard reserved for
such private viewings, we were reassured. We hadn’t even seen the new car yet,
but it was clear Ford had been thinking long and hard about what Mustang
customers wanted and how they could deliver.
Mechanically Speaking
There is a lot of
goodness in that car, and we’ve continued to tweak and evolve it over the year
So, what sort of Mustang did Ford build after polling the
Mustang universe? The short answer is they modified the existing car until
nothing old was left. As such the ’15 Mustang, while still clearly referencing
the ’05-’14 Mustang architecture, is an all-new device.
Addressing this more thoroughly is Dave Pericak, Chief
Name-plate Engineer and a man we’ll be hearing much from as he’s the
highest-ranking person dedicated to the Mustang inside Ford: “…This is a clean
sheet of paper. Of course, we had a basis to learn and launch from, but as we
have evolved there is nothing carryover on this car. It is as clean as a clean
sheet gets. All the parts are brand new.”
Not one to quibble with the man who birthed it, but if you
search long enough in the powertrain, there has to be a bolt, bearing, or
crankshaft making the trip to the ’15 Mustang unchanged. So let’s give Dave his
deserved poetic license, as he explains.
“We used a lot of the known basis of the S197. There is a
lot of goodness in that car, and we’ve continued to tweak and evolve it over
the years. We used that to launch the new designs and get where we are today.”
If you search long
enough in the powertrain, there has to be a bolt, bearing, or crankshaft making
the trip to the ’15 Mustang unchanged
“The car is so much more capable, and so much more precise,”
he said. “It is really going to shock you in a good way as to how much we have
raised the bar in a good way through the design.”
At this early stage Ford has not let loose with all the
fundamentals, specifically weight and cost, but what can be seen says much
about what remains hidden. Most fundamentally, the ’15 Mustang retains the
existing 107-inch wheel-base, has wider front and rear tracks, and as Ford
confirmed, employs an independent rear suspension. That means a larger
footprint than the today’s car, which, barring exotic materials (extremely
unlikely and none seen so far) or aggressive component design and machining
(possible in places), means increased weight. An IRS suspension is traditionally
heavier in this class of car than the out-going live rear axle, and so we’re
not counting on a lighter car.
Balancing that is a touch more horsepower, and when queried
on weight, Mustang honcho Dave Pericak responded enthusiastically that the
development team had met all performance goals and was “extremely enthusiastic”
with the new car’s performance – and thought we would be too. But he didn’t say
anything about weight.
Most
fundamentally, the ’15 Mustang retains the existing 107-inch wheel-base, has
wider front and rear tracks, and as Ford confirmed, employs an independent rear
suspension
That said, check out the ’15 Mustang GT performance goal –
beat the Boss 302! If that doesn’t get your attention, we don’t know what will.
And that’s not to match it only in raw stopwatch tests, but including the more
subtle benefits such as precision and balance. In fact, the fleet of
aspirational vehicles taken along on every Mustang development drive included
the Porsche 911 and BMW M3, as well as the Boss 302. This is indeed aiming
high, and given the engineer’s happy faces and eagerness to spill all that the
marketing folks would allow, it appears the target has been hit, or looks like
it’s going to be hit.
