Ford announced it's going to produce the GT350 and GT350R into 2018 and adding three more colors.
It’s National Mustang Day, and pony car fans have a good reason to celebrate.
Ford has announced it will continue building two of the most powerful versions of the Mustang ever produced, the Shelby GT350 and the GT350R. Initially set to go out of production at the end of 2017, they will now live on through the 2018 model-year.
The big change for the new model-year? Three new colors: Orange Fury, Kona Blue and the appropriately named Lead Foot Gray.
Under the hood, the two Shelby Mustangs will continue to share Ford’s flat-plane crank 5.2-liter V-8 making a fully 526 horsepower and 429 pound-feet of torque. The Shelby models also boast engine oil, transmission and differential coolers to keep them running smoothly while on the track.
(Big changes coming for 2018 Ford Mustang. To get a look, Click Here.)
In addition, notes Ford, the Shelby GT350 and GT350R share “a no-compromise braking system with vented 15.5-inch two-piece front rotors and six-piston Brembo calipers along with the MagneRide damping system round out the standard equipment to produce the most balanced Mustang ever.”
The GT350 and GT350R face tough competition from a horsepower perspective.
The two Shelby-badged coupes joined the line-up in 2015 as the most powerful versions available for the then all-new, 50th anniversary Mustang. But word has it that Ford is already working on the Shelby GT500, a car that should significantly boost the Mustang’s performance.
It will need some more testosterone considering what Ford’s two key rivals have delivered in recent years. That includes the 650 hp supercharged Camaro ZL1, as well as the 707 hp Dodge Challenger and Charger Hellcat models.
(Ford puts Mustang production on hold temporarily. Click Here for details.)
Dodge bumped things up another notch at the New York International Auto Show last week, revealing the most powerful and quickest factory-equipped muscle car ever. The Dodge Challenger SRT Demon punches out 840 horsepower and can scream from 0 to 60 in a mere 2.3 seconds.
It manages the quarter mile in just 9.65 seconds, at 140 mph. And it is the first car to ever roll off the assembly line capable of pulling a wheelie, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
Considering what it will be going up against, the general consensus is that Ford will have to come in somewhere over 700 horsepower to be taken seriously with the rumored Shelby GT500.
(To see more about Ford’s latest high-performance machine, Click Here.)
With the GT350 models hanging on for another year, that suggests Ford may have decided to go back to the drawing board to punch up performance a bit more before delivering the new Shelby Mustang sometime in late 2018 as a 2019 model.