Next-generation Ford Mustang in It for the Long Haul

Ford’s pony car has typically made the most out of its platforms, eking out the maximum amount of longevity and profit before moving on to wholly new underpinnings. The Fox-body era saw that tradition taken to extremes.

Come 2022, the Mustang will don a new wardrobe, and Ford expects it to stick around for quite some time.

Who knows what “cars” will still exist when the next-gen Mustang completes its life cycle? According to sources who spoke to Automotive News, the upcoming Mustang will arrive in late 2022 with 8 years of production in its future — up from the previously agreed-upon 6 years.

At the outset, Ford expects production tallies to total just under 100,000 units per year, which is down a bit, understandably, from the 102,090 Mustangs Ford built in 2019. A year earlier, the automaker assembled 113,066 coupes and convertibles for the global market.

The product mix is pegged at 77,000 coupes and 20,000 drop-tops, sources say.

While sources told us last year that the next-gen Mustang would carry a re-worked version of its existing platform, AN claims the upcoming Mustang will borrow the CD6 platform found beneath the Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator. Using this platform would certainly aid the automaker’s electrification ambitions, though it would necessitate some changes to the vehicle’s dimensions. The next Mustang is expected to arrive with a hybrid variant in tow, and both the Explorer and Aviator offer a gas-electric version (hybrid for Explorer, plug-in for Aviator; European customers get a PHEV Explorer).

It would also add the possibility of all-wheel drive, allowing the Mustang to better challenge its rival, the Dodge Challenger. As for General Motors’ Chevrolet Camaro, that model isn’t expected to live all that long. If you had to put money down on which pony car will be the last one standing (driving?), the Mustang seems the safest bet, by far.

As part of the new vehicle program, the model reportedly stands to see a refresh in 2025.

So, if this plan pans out, customers will still be able to buy the next-gen Mustang in 2030. What unspeakable horrors will that faraway year hold? Let your mind wander.

[Image: Ford]