Ford’s CEO Jim Farley isn’t pulling punches with the way he speaks about the new Mustang GTD. If he gets his wish, this new king of the Mustangs will stamp its ticket into the history books with lap times that leave Porsche, Mercedes, and Aston Martin in the dust. During a recent interview, he made it clear that Ford has a chip on its shoulder and intends to change the sports car landscape.
There’s no question that the Mustang GTD is a special pony car. It’s a close relative of the Mustang GT3 heading to Le Mans next year. That’s clear from the wild 5.2-liter supercharged V8 with a goal of 800 horsepower (596 kW), the trick inbound suspension, and the eight-speed dual-clutch transaxle.
Those features aren’t simply aimed at making this a special track toy for the one percent. They’re all a part of Ford’s new war on big-name sports car manufacturers. “I want to see Porsche, I want to see Aston Martin, I want to see Mercedes sweat,” Farley said. That might not even be the most incendiary thing he said about the situation during a press preview.
Read: The 2024 Ford Mustang Is Shipping To Dealers And $10k Markups Are Already Here
He kicked things off by saying “We looked at what Porsche had done with their racing Porsches, and we thought we could do it even better.” That’s a bold statement but the Mustang GTD is an equally bold car. At the same time, Farley understands that Ford has to show rather than just tell what it can do.
Speaking about what Ford must do to compete on the level that he desires he tells Bloomberg “You gotta earn it. You can’t just put in tech and spend a bunch of money.
It’s more complicated than that. You have to win races. You have to have the right people to drive the car. You have to pay attention to excruciating detail before people notice. You have to have different versions. You have to have the option list.”
He went on to say that “If you’re not in motorsports and you’re not successful, you’re not relevant to this world.” That’s certainly a vital factor and will play a significant role in how the Mustang GTD is remembered in the future. It’ll always be a very special car but whether or not it becomes a bonafide world-beater is something that remains to be seen.
Farley also dipped into conversations about electrification and the future of Ford. Not only did he say that Ford needs “non-negotiated prices and no inventory and remote pick-up and delivery for all services,” to compete with Tesla but he went even further.
Speaking about the future of the Mustang sports car, Farley said: “Could it be a fully electric Mustang coupe? Nah, probably not. But could there be a partially electrified Mustang coupe—and it be world-class? Yeah.”
Again, he called back to the example Porsche has set. “Let’s see what Porsche does,” he continued. “Let’s see if they take any electrification and put it in that 911. I find that pretty hard to believe,” he concluded. Only time will tell but it sounds like for now, Ford has a very clear plan for its near future.
