Ford is gearing up to take on the mid-engined Chevrolet Corvette, according to a new report from the USA.
GM Authority reports a new Mustang supercar, complete with the engine in the middle as is the case in the latest Chevrolet Corvette, will be revealed on Thursday at Monterey Car Week in California.
The publication reports a “select group of people” have been shown the car already.
As was the case with the Ford GT supercar, the mid-engine Mustang will reportedly be built by Canadian motorsport specialists Multimatic.
What will power the reported Mustang supercar hasn’t been confirmed.
Ford has flirted with the idea of a mid-engine Mustang once before, with the four-cylinder Mustang 1 concept.
More recently, the idea of a new Ford flagship has been confirmed… and then shut down numerous times in American media.
Trademarks for the Thunderbird name were filed in May 2022, sparking rumours Ford was working on a grand tourer to sit atop the range where the mid-engine GT once sat.
Ford Authority reports the Blue Oval brand has been spied benchmarking a C8 Corvette Stingray, initially speculating it was benchmarking it against the Shelby GT500.
The first Thunderbird was conceived as a response to the first Corvette, arriving two years later and also featuring a convertible body with two seats. It ended up outselling the Chevy.
But more recently, chairman Bill Ford Jr has said the Mustang is all the sports car Ford needs.
“Why are you not building a sports car similar to Corvette?” Ford Jr. said, as reported by Ford Authority.
“Are you kidding? We have the Mustang, which I think is by far the best sports car in America and frankly, the world now. It’s affordable. It’s faster than all get out. And it’s about as good as you could possibly get,” he said.
“And we’re going racing with Mustang. For the enthusiasts, we have an EcoBoost Mustang, we now have an electric Mustang in the Mach-E, and we have our all-new five-litre Mustang Dark Horse, which we just introduced.
“And we have more coming. So, I wouldn’t trade our sports car for anybody else’s, let’s put it that way.”
