Like most carmakers, Ford usually doesn’t comment on upcoming vehicles, but juicy information always finds a way to trickle out. Sometimes it’s dealers or suppliers leaking a camera photo; other times, like in this case…it’s a Ford engineer trying to flex on LinkedIn.
The folks over at the Mustang7G forum recently uncovered a Ford product development engineer’s profile on LinkedIn. The profile lists work on powertrain development for the next-generation S650 Mustang. It details two engines specifically: 2.3-liter inline-four and 5.0-liter V8 hybrids. The profile also notes the S650 being a 2023 model year vehicle, suggesting an imminent reveal of the new Mustang next year.
If we presume this LinkedIn post is credible, there’s much we don’t know. We don’t know whether the hybrid Mustangs will be the only versions on offer. And “hybrid” could mean different things. They could be mild hybrids like Mercedes’s EQ boost engines that improve fuel economy and smooth out low-end turbo lag. Or they could be plug-ins offering a substantially more oomph and noticeable EV-only range.
Using our powers of deduction, we would bet on the new engines being mild hybrid variants of the current model; why keep the same displacements if you develop new engines? Besides, some have speculated the S650 Mustang may be more like a facelift for the current S550 as Ford prepares to phase out combustion versions in favor of an all-electric Mustang; it’s hard to see FoMoCo spending too much money updating the powertrains ahead of that.
Even if it’s a hybrid, a 5.0-liter V8 Mustang could end up being the last V8-powered pony/muscle car off the line. Chevy is canceling the Camaro entirely in 2023, which is around the time we’ll see Dodge pivot to “American eMuscle.”
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