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Before carparazzi spied the very first examples of the S650-generation Shelby GT500, a wild rumor made the rounds in the automotive media. The said rumor suggests an off-road Mustang with a raised suspension and massive tires, which is a bit ridiculous.
Or is it? After all, Porsche and Lamborghini are offering the 911 Dakar and Huracan Sterrato in limited numbers at exceptionally high prices. According to Ford Motor Company dealer sources who recently attended a dealer meeting in Las Vegas, the Dearborn-based automaker is indeed developing a model with off-the-beaten-path capabilities. Automotive News has learned from those sources that it’s called the Mustang Baja.
The rugged, high-performance model is also rumored to feature all-wheel drive. Considering the April 2024 promo clip featuring the S550-gen Mustang doing a four-wheel-drive burnout, it’s no surprise to hear that the Mustang Baja features all-wheel drive. Automotive News has also learned that the Mustang Mach-4 is the name of the four-door model, described by dealers as a coupe rather than a sedan.
Jim Farley showed dealers a photo of the Mustang Baja, while the Mustang Mach-4 is nothing more than a rendering at this point. Unfortunately, the big kahuna at FoMoCo didn’t share any details about the rumored hybrid powertrain that was supposed to launch with the S550.
Photo: sugardesign_1 on Instagram
Raj Nair, former chief technical officer and executive vice president of product development, confirmed the hybrid powertrain at the 2017 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. He mentioned an EcoBoost-type engine and electric motors without going into the number of cylinders or electric motors. Either way, it’s easy to imagine the 2.3-liter EcoBoost I4 powering the rear wheels via a 10R automatic transmission, with two motors powering the front wheels.
Instead of the long-anticipated hybrid name, dealers were shown a high-performance convertible with a beefy V8 engine, manual transmission, and exterior styling similar to the previous Shelby GT350 and GT500. There were no Shelby badges to speak of, however.
Could this have been a prototype of the next Shelby GT500? Spy photographers have already spotted a GT500-like convertible with carbon-fiber wheels, but something doesn't add up. More specifically, does Ford have a manual transmission capable of handling the mountain of torque from the 5.2-liter Predator V8? To refresh your memory, the blown piece makes 640 pound-feet (868 Nm) in the F-150 Raptor R.
We can’t ignore that Ford failed to support a manual transmission in the S550-gen Shelby GT500, which came with a dual-clutch transmission. So, one has to wonder whether dealers were shown a Dark Horse convertible or the successor to the Shelby GT350. The big question is whether Ford Motor Company will bring back the Voodoo flat-crank V8 with dual throttle bodies similar to the Gen 4 Coyote.