2014 Mustang

The new 2014 Ford Mustang, which is coming out in late 2013 (yet here we are in 2010!), will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary. As a treat, it will go global. As ironic, the designers have no idea how it's going to look and makers haven't even started on a prototype! With Fords rear-drive platform program almost dead, the company will try to come up with a new model that's not just another upgrade of the last years model. Under the global rear-drive platform plan, the 2014 Mustang would share its basic architecture with the next generation Australian Ford Falcon, and possibly a new flagship sedan for Lincoln. The Mustang would have been on the short wheelbase version of the platform, the Falcon on the mid-wheelbase, and the Lincoln on the long wheelbase. But that strategy has changed, for three key reasons:

1) A large rear drive sedan for the U.S. would require a lightweight platform architecture to help it meet forthcoming fuel economy and emissions standards.

2) Sales of the Australian Falcon slumped last year to just over 30,000 units, the lowest level in the nameplate's 49 year history in Australia.

3) Although it avoided bankruptcy, Ford burned through a lot of cash last year, and may not have the resource to devote to developing what would be a complex but relatively niche architecture.

The 2014 Mustang will get initially 3 new ideas put into it, say the designers. The first -- and perhaps the easiest -- is an evolution of the current car,or in other words the body, and a continued focus on the 5.0-liter V-8 as the halo engine. The second is more of an M3-style car, probably with turbocharged V-6 power for markets like Europe. The third - and probably the least likely, says the source - is to transform the Mustang into an ultra-high tech, ultra-high performance coupe along the lines of Nissan's giant-killing GT-R (not gonna happen).
At the moment, ford isn't exactly sure what capabilities the 2014 Mustang will have but it will most likely be smaller and lighter and have a better gas mileage to suit European and Asian markets.