A halo high performance variant of the Mustang is what, so far, has been lacking in the current generation of Dearborn’s stallions. Sure, there’s the excellent GT350 and GT350R, but we all know Ford has unsheathed more potent and far more frightening weapons before.
Earlier the automaker had an answer, teasing a new Shelby GT500 for the first time, one that would boast over 700hp (522kW) and have a top speed in excess of 320km/h (200mph). Unlike the last car to wear that name, this new car is poised to be a much more sophisticated machine, able to combine fearsome looks and overwhelming performance with, dare we say, grace and finesse.
So far, more exacting details have been light, but an Instagram user by the name of Kyle has somehow obtained photographs of the production spec GT500 ahead of its official public reveal. We know not of how these photographs ended up with him, but he wasted little time in uploading them to the photo sharing social network.
It isn’t confirmed that this is even the real thing, but the doesn’t seem to be any obvious reasons to doubt that it is, with many details matching the car’s original teaser, including the classic white stripes on blue exterior finish, centred coil cobra Shelby logo, redesigned fascia, and sizeable rear wing.
With any luck, Ford is still very much on track for the new GT500’s official reveal and launch at next year’s Detroit Motor Show in early 2019. Not long after that, the comparisons will come in hard and fast against cars like the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, Camaro ZL1 LE, and Dodge Challenger Hellcat - all three of which Ford did not have a current comparable offering until now.
When it does hit the road, the new Super Snake will be the most powerful production car Ford would have ever produced, even leaving the GT supercar’s outputs for dust. We’re still wondering whether the supercharged V8 powerplant used in the new king Mustang is derived from the newly updated 5.0-litre Coyote or the more unique and high-revving 5.2-litre flat-plane Voodoo.
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