Current Mustang Could Live Until 2026, Hybrid Pushed Back To 2022

It looks like the sixth-gen Mustang will stick around a little longer, as a new report emerged saying that Ford doesn’t plan on replacing it with an all-new model until the 2026 model year, and could stretch its life cycle as far as 2028.

Quoting anonymous sources, Automobile magazine says that Ford plans to keep its pony car relevant until then by bringing in a heavily redesigned version of the current S550 Mustang that will feature new bodywork.

As for the Mustang hybrid that was supposed to be launched together with the model’s big update in 2020, the report now says that it’s been pushed back to early 2022.

Codenamed S650, the next generation Mustang is going to be based on Ford’s latest CD6 architecture that underpins models like the Explorer and Lincoln Aviator. What this also means is that the next Mustang will most likely grow in size, too, since this is a larger platform.

It may sound odd to keep a model alive for this long, since the current Mustang was originally launched back in 2014, but given the current market conditions that favor SUVs and pickup trucks instead of sports cars, Ford’s plan could make sense from a financial standpoint.

With the company currently focusing on electrification and SUVs, allocating resources to a car like the Mustang won’t be Ford’s priority, so its life cycle could be extended. The company has done the same in the past with the Fox-platform Mustang that first debuted in 1979, keeping its architecture in production until 2004, following a heavy refresh in 1994. Even the previous Mustang remained in production for a decade, so maybe we shouldn’t be that surprised.

Dodge has done the same with the Challenger, which debuted back in 2008, while Porsche will keep the 718 Cayman and Boxster in production until 2023.

With crossovers, EV powertrains and autonomous technologies being top priorities for automakers, and sports cars an endangered species, we should probably thank Ford for giving us another new Mustang, even if we have to wait for it until at least 2026.