That mix is beginning to shift quickly, though, and Ford is rushing to get ahead of the curve. Since April 1, it has reported selling 286 more of its Mustang Mach-E electric crossover in the U.S. than gasoline Mustangs.
The company recently stopped selling the EcoSport in North America, and the Transit Connect, Escape and Edge are expected to vanish in the coming years. Ford is now largely focused on the F-Series, Mustang and Bronco — vehicle families using platforms with relatively long life cycles that can be occasionally upgraded with derivatives and special editions, reducing the urgency of ground-up redesigns.
Enter the 2024 Mustang. The car has a new platform, called S650, but it’s not expected to depart drastically from the current S550 model. A hybrid variant that was planned for mid-decade has been scrapped, according to three people familiar with the plans, and the car isn’t expected to get a long-rumored all-wheel-drive configuration, instead continuing as a rear-wheel-drive sports coupe.
Ford has told suppliers it’s stretching the product’s lifecycle from six to eight years, all but ensuring this will be the final gasoline-powered Mustang before an expected switch to battery power around 2030.
“The Mustang can largely follow the Dodge Challenger’s path of the last 15 years: interesting, fun, creative, nostalgic versions,” Karl Brauer, executive analyst at ISeeCars, said in an interview. “If there’s a stream of those coming, that’s as much, if not more effective for sales of that vehicle than any new, innovative technology. The Mustang buyer base will definitely reward a more traditional approach and less ‘evolution’ than the average new vehicle.”
The Mustang will likely be the last internal-combustion pony car standing. Dodge will stop producing gasoline-powered Chargers and Challengers next year, and General Motors is expected to follow suit in 2025 when it discontinues the slow-selling Camaro.
To celebrate what could be the last of its kind, Ford is asking Mustang owners to form a parade it’s calling “The Stampede,” snaking from its Dearborn headquarters to downtown Detroit for the reveal of the seventh-generation car Sept. 14 as the city’s auto show gets underway.
