Automobile Article - The Future of Camaro, Mustang & Challenger

[Clump]

https://www.automobilemag.com/news/chevy-camaro-ford-mustang-dodge-challenger-future/

Pretty good read. Bottom line - Mustang and Challenger have a future, Camaro not so much.


Ford Mustang

The new rear-wheel-drive platform that underpins the 2020 Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator was designed to put volume, and thus cost-effectiveness, into the next-generation Ford Mustang, which is the automaker's single remaining non-truck/non-SUV sold in North America. But when we were attended the '20 Explorer first-drive program, engineers said the longitudinal-engine architecture was designed to be a sport-utility platform from the start.

A hybrid Mustang is expected next year as a 2021 model, and this car always was planned for the existing architecture. This suggests the Explorer/Aviator-based Mustang would come in time for perhaps the 2023 model year, with the hybrid powertrain carrying over.

The "Mustang-inspired" all-electric four-door crossover will not be mechanically or architecturally related to any of these models.

Now it looks like the current Ford Mustang will roll on at least through the 2025 model year, if not later. The Explorer/Aviator architecture isn't quite as flexible as Ford first thought, so if the Mustang does eventually migrate to their bones, it will grow to be closer in size to the Dodge Challenger.

The current Mustang is 188.5 inches long overall and 54.3 inches high, on a 107.1-inch wheelbase. In comparison, the Challenger is 197.9 inches long and 57.5 inches tall, and has a 116.2-inch wheelbase, a result of sharing a tall firewall with the Charger and Chrysler 300. The Camaro is close to the Mustang in size, at 188.3 inches long and 53.1 inches tall, and with a 110.7-inch wheelbase.

A Challenger-size Mustang would make it a tough sell in the European Union, where Ford says the car has become the region's bestselling sports car. But it might be the future for what most likely will be a two-car segment, consisting of Mustang and Challenger. Think of this next-generation Mustang as being a kind of retro nod to its 1971 ancestor, which left its Falcon compact platform for the one under the midsize Torino. Of course, that 1971-73 model was succeeded by the Pinto-based '74 Mustang II.

If the Ford Mustang does not migrate to the Explorer/Aviator platform by the 2026 model year, we'd bet on Ford skipping the move in favor of constant updates to keep the current architecture fresh. Those SUVs will be getting old after '26, and their underpinnings are scheduled to next be replaced in model year '29, according to one source.

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[saleen367]

I'm not thrilled at the thought that the future means "bigger", but if it means keeping around the model, I guess I'll take what we can get. It just means that I'll be hanging on to my MY18 that much longer.

I personally would love to see the Mustang migrate to a direct Corvette competitor ... smaller, lighter, 2 seater, but I doubt that will ever happen.

 

[bluebeastsrt]

The future is bleak for all of them. The Camaro is as good as dead. A Mustang on an explorer frame??? And another 10 years of the same old challenger.

 

[EcoVert]

I've said quite a few times that in ten years Mustang and the pony car segment will be dead. I did notice that the author is a camaro fanboi taking a jab at Mustang as being a rental car.

 

[Hack]

I'm not thrilled at the thought that the future means "bigger", but if it means keeping around the model, I guess I'll take what we can get. It just means that I'll be hanging on to my MY18 that much longer.

I personally would love to see the Mustang migrate to a direct Corvette competitor ... smaller, lighter, 2 seater, but I doubt that will ever happen.

I agree with you. The back seats could even be kept, but made a little smaller in order to shrink the chassis and remove weight. A change like adding a transaxle or at least moving the transmission to the rear of the car would be terrific for improving balance and traction.

I don't think Ford would have to completely make the Mustang into a Corvette-style vehicle in order to pull lots of people from the Corvette. Keep most of what makes the Mustang a Mustang. Make sure the cabin stays large enough for bigger people to be comfortable. Don't worry about back seat size - I don't think very many owners use the back seats a lot except for if they have very small children. Just make something in between Mustang and Corvette in size, get the transmission into the back, and profit.

 

[Strokerswild]

I have my doubts I'll buy another new Mustang down the road if it gets bigger and even heavier, the S550 is a tank as it is.....

 

[Hack]

I have my doubts I'll buy another new Mustang down the road if it gets bigger and even heavier, the S550 is a tank as it is.....

I am in the same boat with you. I would love to own another GT350 someday, but it would probably be smarter of me to build a wilder engine plus a few other upgrades for my C5. The chassis on the C5 is so much better than the S550, it's just crazy. People say the Mustang hides its weight well, but you can definitely feel how heavy the car is when you drive a newer Mustang.

And then there's the price of new vehicles. They have just gone to infinity and beyond. Over $100k for the halo Mustang now!? Maybe that's a blue collar cost on the coasts, but here in MN that's way too much money for most people to spend on a car.

 

[SVTSNAKE355]

A fatass mustang would be beyond stupid. I'm still luvin my 2014 GT500

 

[shogun32]

A change like adding a transaxle or at least moving the transmission to the rear of the car would be terrific for improving balance and traction.

and it's not like the fictitious occupants of the rear seats are going to complain about it...

 

[Jeffola]

I am glad I bought my 2015 GT Conv as a keeper. If the platform either grows, or is deleted, I still have my Pony car. Honda and Toyota are some of the few manufacturers that are keeping "Cars" in their lineup.

 

[shogun32]

Honda and Toyota are some of the few manufacturers that are keeping "Cars" in their lineup.

don't forget Mazda and Kia.
Ford et. al. are going to seriously rue the day they engaged in this madness. But on the other hand, maybe it's a case of good riddance! Substandard workers, substandard engineers, substandard QA. The HQ minions are all too eager to play 3rd-world wage and ecological arbitrage so it's not like there were any useful USA jobs left... Maybe Ford will pull a Toyota and just rebadge a Mazda along the lines of the previously discontinued Ranger.

But when margins collapse on the trucks (ie. F150 can only command 25-35k MSRP instead of the preposterous 50K+) what are they going to do then?

 

[nastang87xx]

taking a jab at Mustang as being a rental car.

...but it is. But so is the Camaro. There's 389245474359 rental Camaros and Mustangs all over Florida and California. However in the observations I've seen, any of my friends that go traveling domestically and rent a car for their vacation experience, they always seem to end up in a V6/ecoboost Mustang convertible.

 

[hlfbkd420]

I managed to get upgraded to a 2017 GT vert the last time I was in Hawaii. It took me a year to buy one after that.

 

[Mustangpursuit]

...but it is. But so is the Camaro. There's 389245474359 rental Camaros and Mustangs all over Florida and California. However in the observations I've seen, any of my friends that go traveling domestically and rent a car for their vacation experience, they always seem to end up in a V6/ecoboost Mustang convertible.

Many Challenger rentals too. I once scored a Hemi Challenger in the EA at National, other times was just the Pentastar version.

 

[Freedom]

exactly what we all wanted! a bigger chonky boy!..

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