The Mustang prototypes are out in full force now! There’s a few high performance variants that have begun testing in Ford’s headquarters in the last few days and each have shown slight variations in camouflage and other clues.
In this latest sighting, our photographer captured a prototype similar to the one seen just days prior, but with a few notable differences. First, unlike the previous prototype the entire front end of this latest variant including the lower grille is shrouded in heavy camouflage which extends to the front fenders. The fenders lack the perforated cladding seen in previous test vehicles which have pointed to the existence of fender vents similar to those on the 2015-18 GT350, or any signs (such as this one out testing) of the wheel arch louvers leaked recently.
One major difference is this latest Mustang prototype is wearing Forgeline wheels wrapped in Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires, in contrast to the one spotted days ago.
Our swift-handed photographer was able to snag a brief video of this new Mustang variant while trying to navigate through traffic. It’s not the clearest audio but according to his ears it sounded naturally aspirated, and what we are able to hear in the video certainly reminds us of the GT350. One thing is clear; it sounds properly loud and aggressive.
Ford has already confirmed that the 2018 GT350 will carry over from the 2017 vehicle and our sources tell us the next GT500 successor will be a supercharged 5.2-liter cross plane V8 (paired with a DCT no less), so if the Mustang in this video is indeed sans forced induction — could this be a refreshed 2019 GT350 in the making? Of course, it begs the question if Ford will extend the life of the GT350 beyond the 2018 model year. There have been some previous clues that they may.
Given all the uncertainties, we’re flipping a coin and filing this in the GT500 category. Let’s hope Ford takes the wraps off sooner than later.
Check out the entire 2019 GT500 Mustang photo gallery and video in our forums.