No, Ford has not announced the arrival of a larger engine for its Mustang and F-150 models. Please note, therefore, that what follows remains pure speculation. However, there is some basis for it.
That basis comes from the mouth of Jerry Dias, president of the Canadian Auto Workers Union (Unifor), who suggested that the company might be working on a new 6.8L engine and that it would be used with versions of the Mustang and the F-150 pickup truck.
Dias mentioned the possibility of a 6.8L engine at a press conference in late September, and he added the new unit would be built at the company’s Windsor, Ontario plant.
A recent press release issued by Unifor states that "Ford has committed to supplying the new 6.X-litre engines to the Windsor plant, as well as guaranteeing the assembly of the 5-litre engines and the machining of existing components at the Essex plant, as well as all derivatives."
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Agreement on these moves was recently reached between Ford and Unifor, which will also see the Oakville, Ontario assembly plant updated to handle assembly of five all-electric models starting in 2025. That plant currently produces the Edge SUV, which will slowly make way for other products.
So while there's clearly something new coming under the hood of the Mustang and F-150 models, we'll have to wait for Ford to confirm this before we can consider this information cast in stone. For now, it comes from the union, which is not to be discarded out of hand. In the past, announcements concerning the possible arrival of the Ranger and Bronco were first made by the unions.
Similarly, nowhere is it mentioned that the engine in question is a V8; it is simply assumed.
The wording "6.X litres" also leaves the possibility that the new engine could be of another size than 6.8L.
And since we’re speculating, could a big 6.8L V8 also serve the Raptor version of the Ford F-150, so that it can compete with the new Ram TRX we tested last week?
Stay tuned.