Ford calls report of current Mustang’s rumored 2028 death “not accurate”
In fall 2022, Ford revealed the S650 Mustang, the seventh generation of its inimitable pony car. The new machine was met with fanfare for a multitude of reasons, the most poignant being that as its cross-town competitors began to wind-down their versions of the Great American Muscle Car—either with about 400 special editions or with absolutely zero ceremony—Ford was picking up the banner and carrying it well into this decade.
Late last week, a report from Muscle Cars & Trucks seemed to mark an end of the road for the current Mustang. In the report, MC&T cited language in the new labor agreement reached between Ford and the UAW that pointed to the current-generation Mustang ceasing production in 2028.
“Thanks to the details disclosed from the new Ford-UAW labor agreement, information has been released to the public regarding plans for vehicles along with their designated assembly plants, and the latest points towards the end of production for the S650 Ford Mustang in 2028, meaning after the 2028 model year, the current Ford Mustang will bid us all farewell.”
However, in a statement provided to Hagerty, Ford spokesperson Brandon Turkus says otherwise: “The Muscle Cars & Trucks report about the Mustang is not accurate. Beyond this, we don’t comment on speculation about future products.”
One could infer that Ford is taking issue with the date mentioned (2028), and that in fact there are plans in the works to keep the Mustang rolling well past that point. Using history as a rough measuring stick, the previous generation of Mustang enjoyed an eight-year run, debuting in 2015 and then being replaced in mid-2023 by the new one. For the S650 to only have a run time of half the previous model seems unlikely, though there are certainly far more challenges around gas-powered vehicles facing this new generation.
What’s more, Ford hasn’t chosen to focus the new Mustang at just one sort of buyer. The Mustang is a true choose-your-own-adventure car: There are convertibles, fuel-sipping four-cylinders, thundering V-8s, a track-tuned Dark Horse, a cruise-ready California Special, and even a supercar-slaying Mustang GTD that will ring the register for $300K-plus. These cars don’t sell in the numbers they once did, but it seems far-fetched that Ford would completely run out of buyers for the Mustang as it currently stands by 2028.
Ahead of the S650’s reveal, there were speculations that the car would offer some sort of hybridized drivetrain. Those rumors didn’t pan out, but that’s not to say that the prospects of a hybrid Mustang simply died on the vine. Perhaps Ford is planning to add hybridization to the Mustang, and those changes will arrive conveniently close to the 2028 date mentioned in the labor agreement? Again, hard to say, because Ford (and basically every other manufacturer, to be fair) almost always refuses to comment on future products.
Whatever the actual truth ends up being here, there’s no need to go all Chicken Little and say “the pony car sky is falling!” Though it’s the only automaker still building such a machine, Ford is certainly still putting big effort into the Mustang for the time being. If you want to get your hands on one, there’s no time quite like the present.
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Ford will try to keep it alive. It is now based on a SUV platform and that will help. But if they do not build sales or raise the price with more expensive models they could be in for a short future.
They may not be planning its death but it could come at any time. Only improved sales can change that.
The Mustang is Fords image car like the Corvette but it like the Corvette will need to make money.
with stock prices as low as they are at Ford. They have little capital to waste.
How bad is it at Ford. Many do not speak of this but bad enough that if the Ford family did not own 51% they may have been bought out and broken up by now just for the trucks.
My -08 S197 GT just got tucked in for a long winters nap. Long live the Stang! Not the poseur SUV.
The Mustang will probably pick up sales from 2024 onwards, as there will be no other “affordable” sports car option.
Although the Mustang is losing the “affordable” tag bit by bit. And that is before any possible “Shelby” model due to come in the future.
Well if you treat this “new” generation for what it really is, an update of the last generation, I can see a 5 year run. It’s almost a direct parallel to the 2010 Mustang redesign. That car was an update to the S197 with new bumpers, sheet metal, a new interior, updated handling and a bump in horsepower. They just didn’t try to pass it off as a new generation. That redesign lasted only 5 years.
The easiest way to keep cars like the Mustang going and even to bring back the Camaro is simply stop eating soy. Probably the large intake of estrogen ladened soy and processed foods could be linked to believing that there is climate change, and that a front wheel drive vehicle should be called a car. Man up!
Oh Brad