In the short-term, when the production version of the Shelby Cobra GT500 arrives in 2006, it may be the most powerful production Mustang ever. But in the long-term it's supposed to point to ''a brand new era in Ford Motor Company's performance future.''
That is the gospel according to Ford, at any rate, and it should make go-fast geeks of all ages tremble because it promises a bigger selection of the amateur racer's dream car -- a hotrod with a three-year warranty and rust protection.
To get this all started, Ford went to man whose name is on the car itself -- Carroll Shelby, who helped the Detroit firm launch its previous performance era with his Le Mans winning cars in the mid-60s before going on to craft some famous muscle cars before emissions control regulations brought a stop to all that.
This time around, Shelby will be working with Ford's in-house performance division, Special Vehicle Team (SVT) to create this new car. It's hard to tell exactly how this relationship will work, but Detroit insiders believe Shelby's main contribution will be the use of his name in press releases and on the car itself. This is expected to attract extra media attention (see how it worked with us) and some nostalgia connection with Boomer buyers. To be fair, though, Shelby undoubtedly did serve as a ''senior advisor'' to the people making the actual decisions.
To give the world an idea of what the production car would be like, Ford this week is showing off a 450-plus-horsepower Ford Shelby Cobra GT500 show car at the New York International Auto Show March 23. It's said to ''melds SVT's modern engineering with the big-block performance that made the original GT500 the king of the road.''
The basis for the show car and the production version of the GT500 will of course be the regular 2005 Mustang, which is off to a roaring sales start. Part of its success is probably owed to that fact that from the beginning it was designed be the basis of a high-performance monster like the Shelby Cobra GT500.
A production version of the GT500 will go on sale in 2006, continuing the high-performance lineage of the SVT Mustang Cobra model line. Phil Martens, Ford's product creation boss, says ''it will be followed by a steady stream of performance products developed by SVT, including Ford Sport Trac Adrenalin, the industry's first performance sport-utility truck, in 2007.''
SVT has already created the Mustang Cobra and the F-150 Lightning pickup, and Hau Thai-Tang, the director of Ford Advanced Product Creation and SVT Programs, says ''we're building on that pioneering vision with vehicles like the Ford GT, Shelby Cobra GT500 and Sport Trac Adrenalin -- great performance machines that connect with enthusiasts in a way no other companies or vehicles can match.''
Thai-Tang says the production GT500 will be the first in a string of specialty Mustangs that SVT will help deliver, and this will give Mustang one of the broadest product portfolios in the industry, ranging from a V-6 Mustang to the 450-hp GT500, with each one ''offering performance and value.''
SVT will also develop non-SVT branded Ford Division performance vehicles -- including ''heritage-based'' performance Mustangs in the spirit of the 2001 Bullitt GT and 2003 Mach 1 -- as it becomes more directly integrated into Ford's mainstream product development process.
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| Shelby Cobra GT500 (photo : Ford Motor Company) |
To get this all started, Ford went to man whose name is on the car itself -- Carroll Shelby, who helped the Detroit firm launch its previous performance era with his Le Mans winning cars in the mid-60s before going on to craft some famous muscle cars before emissions control regulations brought a stop to all that.
This time around, Shelby will be working with Ford's in-house performance division, Special Vehicle Team (SVT) to create this new car. It's hard to tell exactly how this relationship will work, but Detroit insiders believe Shelby's main contribution will be the use of his name in press releases and on the car itself. This is expected to attract extra media attention (see how it worked with us) and some nostalgia connection with Boomer buyers. To be fair, though, Shelby undoubtedly did serve as a ''senior advisor'' to the people making the actual decisions.
To give the world an idea of what the production car would be like, Ford this week is showing off a 450-plus-horsepower Ford Shelby Cobra GT500 show car at the New York International Auto Show March 23. It's said to ''melds SVT's modern engineering with the big-block performance that made the original GT500 the king of the road.''
The basis for the show car and the production version of the GT500 will of course be the regular 2005 Mustang, which is off to a roaring sales start. Part of its success is probably owed to that fact that from the beginning it was designed be the basis of a high-performance monster like the Shelby Cobra GT500.
 |
| Shelby Cobra GT500 (photo : Ford Motor Company) |
SVT has already created the Mustang Cobra and the F-150 Lightning pickup, and Hau Thai-Tang, the director of Ford Advanced Product Creation and SVT Programs, says ''we're building on that pioneering vision with vehicles like the Ford GT, Shelby Cobra GT500 and Sport Trac Adrenalin -- great performance machines that connect with enthusiasts in a way no other companies or vehicles can match.''
Thai-Tang says the production GT500 will be the first in a string of specialty Mustangs that SVT will help deliver, and this will give Mustang one of the broadest product portfolios in the industry, ranging from a V-6 Mustang to the 450-hp GT500, with each one ''offering performance and value.''
SVT will also develop non-SVT branded Ford Division performance vehicles -- including ''heritage-based'' performance Mustangs in the spirit of the 2001 Bullitt GT and 2003 Mach 1 -- as it becomes more directly integrated into Ford's mainstream product development process.