martinjlm
Retired from GM
Mustangs compete with Camaro. No argument there. But history tells us that the Shelby Mustangs were first introduced as track competitors to the Corvette because Ford had nothing else to compete with Corvette in the showroom or on the track.You must realize that the Mustang isn’t a competitor to the Corvette.
One is a Pony Car and the other a Sports Car.
Even the “base” C8 is a new, mid engine car that represents the pinnacle of GM engineering.
The 500 is the top Mustang. a four-seat car that has some compromise built into it by design, like the Camaro. It competes with the Zl1 and Hellcat.
The Corvette is the top everything of GM. It competes with Fords GT, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, etc. and it does so very well and even at a bargain price.
The fact that a trim level of Mustang is beating a hot new Corvette on the track and in the 1320 is saying something big.
And this isn’t the top dog Mustang GT500. It’s not even the carbon fiber track pack.
Plus, we are now seeing the GM pricing bait and switch we talked about come to fruition.
Amazing that a Mustang that starts as a 4 banger also has a supercharged v8 big brother that performs better than The newest Corvette on offer.
I’m sure there will be a supercharged or turbocharged c8 that comes out and costs 100k+ that really shines. It’s very light, has the engine in the back, and uses a pretty sweet DCT. it’s going to be great.
But the GT500 occupying the same territory is amazing.
Corvette considers Porsche, Ferrari, and McLaren to be its top tier competitor set. It considers Nissan GT-R, Mercedes AMG GT, Shelby Mustangs, and Jaguar F-Types as second tier competitors. Got that info straight from the former head of GM’s Competitor Intelligence (some of you will get that ). I am also often in contact with people at Ford’s Competitor Intelligence team. I’ll just leave it at that.
It is NOT unusual for a Shelby Mustang to outperform base model Corvettes. In fact, in the 2000s it’s fairly commonplace.
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