Bob Lutz is not the only one who is “often wrong, never in doubt”. When I penned my Ford GT editorial, I had a pretty sound case for believing that the latest reports of a successor to Ford’s supercar were little more than clickbait. By usually reliable sources inside the Blue Oval seemed to concur. And then I got a phone call from someone who is placed highly enough to know.
It turns out that our sources didn’t initially see any indication of a new GT program because it’s not being done through the usual channels. It will be a *very* limited product car, of around 300 units, and built by a third-party like Multimatic. Power will come from a 3.5L Ecoboost, to maintain a connection with Ford’s sports car racing program. The car will be priced as you’d expect a limited-production 300-unit halo car to be priced.
N.B. The identity of the source checks out, but there is still the chance that it could all be a bunch of BS misinformation. However, I felt it prudent to put this on the public record in case I am wrong. My obligation to you, the readers, comes before my own pride/ego.
Ok, so they’re going to make 300 cars that no one here has a chance in hell of owning and probably never even seeing, but Derek thought they weren’t.
OK, Derek, one more chance…
“300 cars that no one here has a chance in hell of owning ”
Speak for yourself, dude. My 2005 FGT-TT needs a younger brother.
Derek, what did I tell you, my man? :)
My bad, the doctor will have a new $200K GT. Is it by lottery, invitation or are you automatically grandfathered in?
*cough cough* RS200
I’m certainly not one to hate, but I think this is the biggest downer about the new car: The original GT was in 911T territory, this one is going to be more like a 918. I know a blue-collar guy who was quite happy to pick up a GT as a retirement present, but he would never have stood a chance in hell of picking up something this limited.
Regardless, looks like Ford has decreed that the best factory option you can get is still a tarted up Mustang. Hopefully this new GT sees more success than previous outsourced options – looking at you, Mr. Pantera…
Even a broken clock is right twice a day
Don’t be so hard on yourself.
What will they dial the boost up to on that 3.5B?
To be fair Derek, the articles that were written about Ford bringing back the GT relied on things like, “He could have just said no.”
Eleven!
That is the correct answer.
The funny thing is that Fender amps go up to 12.
http://media.caranddriver.com/files/gt-r-hp-tq-boost-chart.pdf
Closest without going over…The GT-R’s 3.8l is at roughly 12.5 to 13 PSI at 3500rpm.
If I was running Ford, I would treat the Ford GT the same way Porsche does the 911. Keep the design consistent (even if Clarkson calls Porsche lazy) but update the guts every so often. “My” Ford GT wouldn’t be super-limited like a LaFerrari, but obviously I wouldn’t make Fusion-like quantities.
The GT-R and the GT are the two supercars I’d consider driving around all the time. Probably would end up with the GT-R however, since the AWD and more reasonable girth would be better to deal with daily.
A mid-engined supercar with a twin-turbo 3.5L V6? Seems Ford held onto the XJ220 playbook when they sold Jaguar.
Yep, I don’t see this getting the same level of appreciation that the Ford GT got with the blown 5.4
Porsche even went with a V8 on its hybrid supercar and I would think if there is positively one company (maybe Nissan could as well) that could get away with less than 8 cylinders and preferably in an opposed or boxer configuration it would be Porsche but they chose a V8 instead.
Ford however has a lot of history with the V8 and American performance cars are generally associated with V8s so going against that tradition doesn’t seem like a wise move even if a rare duck like the SRT4 or SVO Mustang (or Grand National or Syclone or whatever) has cropped up in the past as a domestic performance car with less than an eight count on the pistons.
If it’s a monster, no one will care. I’d like the 3.5EB in the Mustang myself. The Navigator is at 380/460. Gimme an Ecoboost Mustang at 420/475.
Clarkson is dead wrong on that — and about other things, but then factual accuracy is hardly his appeal. It’s extraordinarily difficult to make the 911 design remain consistent while actually changing almost everything about it. The ‘almost’ being, of course, the engine location.
It may be perverse of Porsche to do this, but it sure isn’t lazy.
Does Ford even have high performance parts for sale for their turbo engines?
For the 2.0T, they have some stuff. The 2.3T, 2.7TT, and 3.5TT don’t have any Ford Racing parts right now. I would expect that to change as the 2.3T gets put into more performance platforms (Focus RS, Mustang). The 3.5TT should also be found in performance applications in the future. The Raptor is supposedly going turbo, plus, can they keep the 3.5TT out of the Mustang forever? I think no.
That nose is interesting…it looks more Ford 2005 than Ford 2015. See NASCAR Taurus in the grill, and first generation Fusion in the headlights.
Who the hell wants a limited run, garage built car with a Blue Oval on it? This is the equivalent of some Factory Five cobra that was put together by 2 old Product Development Engineers with left over parts from the 2010 SHO launch and christened with the blessing from the licensing department at Ford.
No production tooling, PPAP or GPDS program? That means this is some hobbyist piece of garbage.
tresmonos, do you think before you type, or do you just spew out random nonsensical BS? You do realize that the 05-06 GT wasn’t “some hobbyist piece of garbage,” don’t you? Why would this be any different?
Q: what was the last car Multimatic built for someone else ?
A: the Aston Martin One-77.
definitely a garage built POS which none of us would want anything to do with.
Thank you
faygo: 1
tresmonos: 0
still won’t stop me from being an *sshole.
You do realize the GT went through GPDS and was a proper program, right? Oh wait, you didn’t know. Open your mouth and insert foot.
“You do realize the GT went through GPDS and was a proper program, right? Oh wait, you didn’t know. Open your mouth and insert foot.”
Of course I did. I wouldn’t purchase some hobbyist POS.
“Speak for yourself, dude. My 2005 FGT-TT needs a younger brother.”
Sounds like you’re about to, just sayin’
Hahaha, touché.
Seriously though, you own a GT?
Yes, it’s been reviewed on this site by Sajeev.
Damn I like the taste of crow. I was railing on this program as it won’t go through the same production channels as a GPDS program. No Ford capital to me means this isn’t a real Ford. I could be wrong.
“No Ford capital”
I hardly think that is the case. Certainly, that was not intimated in Derek’s article.
If it isn’t a GPDS program, it’s likely not following standardized development / launch / manufacturing processes. That means it isn’t utilizing significant Ford resources. It’s a niche job shop product. If I were a betting man, the majority of the engineering is probably contracted out to Roush. I’m also betting they will build it. If they don’t, this is someone else’s work with a licensing. I hope I’m wrong and that some PD group has strung together some resources to make this a Ford developed product.
Your GT is special. No one will every have a ‘factory built,’ PPAP’d, low volume, halo super car like the GT ever again.
Edit: If Roush builds it, I hope they don’t build it like they do pre-production cars (when Ford is too cheap to use their Pilot Plant) because they f*cking suck at it.
@tresmonos :
stick with your day job, whatever it is these days. betting on this subject based on zero knowledge will not get you anywhere other than poorer.
you might look a bit closer into why Roush gets used to build prototypes. it isn’t because they’re cheaper than NMPDC.
@faygo
My current day job tells me that Roush sucks. But you Fordies wouldn’t care so long as the issue at hand can be blamed on the supplier. Want to kit parts to the line? Roush takes a Ropak container, turns it upside down then ‘kits’ your parts in containers to the floor. Don’t even get me started on adherence to process sheets.
NMPDC likes to double down on the OT. Parts get lost until OT is announced (on Wednesday) then the plant swings into action.
Until you stop being so vague and mysterious (gag), it seems I still know more than you even w/o the current job title.
also, I would bet Derek’s post holds more truth than my ramblings. But mission accomplished: drew the ire or Ford trolls basking in their internal product knowledge.
I can guarantee this pile of sh1t has nothing to do with production channels and more to do with divisions of Ford that deal more with Gymkhana.
given that I intend to keep my job, I’ll not say more about why I know what I know and how specifically wrong you are on this subject.
So Multimatic will build it and some spare budget at Ford Racing or SVT will develop it. Question being: what facet of PD had a hand in it?
It’s going to be Ford’s Lamborghini brought to you by the same people responsible for Gymkhana. I’m hoping it has less marketing flair and more involvement from SVT. Call me old fashioned, but I like Ford VO and consider anything outside of that realm to be ‘not Ford.’ Marketing and Racing is a whole other world that I never was subjected to.
If you can’t take my BS rants with a grain of salt, my apologies. Happy Thanksgiving, stranger.
Hobbyist piece of garbage with a 3.5EB crate engine. :)
If Ford really wants to go racing with the Ecoboost V6, throw it in the Mustang and turn the boost up to just under “explode”.
Multimatic is hardly a hobbyist shop, they do extremely professional work.
They do. They make excellent Mustang race cars (among other cool stuff).
The Ford GT, which went through a few different facilities on it’s way to being finished was excellent as well. I can say that I was lucky enough to drive one. I wish I had the means to own one.
first, nice job finding maybe the only angle that could make a DP look good :-P. I’m disappointed in the engine choice though. As soon as the GT350 specs were announced, I thought it would have been a brilliant engine for the Ford GT. Sorry to hear it won’t be finding a spot in that cars successor either.