Are you ready for an all-electric Mustang? No, I don’t mean that all-electric Mustang — I mean a Mustang car, with batteries. If the latest from Autoline and AutoForecast Solutions is true, you’d best warm up to the idea over the next few years, because the Mustang EV is reportedly coming in 2028.
Per Autoline Daily:
Last week we reported that Mustang fans are going to have to wait a while for the next-gen version of the sports car, because it won’t go into production until December of 2028, and there could be a good reason for that long wait.
AutoForecast Solutions reports that the standard Mustang is going fully electric as well, and it sounds like that will be the only powertrain setup. It’s also important to note the next-gen Mustang will be made at Ford’s Flat Rock, Michigan plant — and to our knowledge, there hasn’t been any other single EV announced for that facility, so it’s going to take extra time to tool it up for electrics.
Now, the suggestion that the next all-new Mustang — codenamed S650, after the current S550 model — is seven years away might confuse you, if you recall reports from about this time last year that the S650 was due for a 2022 or 2023 release. If there’s weight to this report, perhaps Ford has delayed the true generational leap closer to the end of the decade, and we’ll get yet another refresh between now and then.
In fact, Automobile reported way back in 2019 that trouble converting the Mustang to Ford’s new flexible CD6 architecture — the same one that underpins the Explorer and Lincoln Aviator — pushed the S650 back to at least 2026. And this was before the pandemic brought everyone’s plans to a screeching halt.
All this is to say the new Mustang could arrive at any point between two and seven years from now, which isn’t particularly illuminating. But the timeline is sort of secondary in this story — the real news is that there’s a strong possibility the Mustang will go fully electric before the end of this decade, and there won’t be a gas-powered option. I suppose it was an inevitability, but it’s a little different to actually hear it reported.
After what could be 15 years of the “current” Mustang, perhaps the world will be prepared for that prospect by 2028. For one thing, it would kind of poke a hole in the rationale behind the Mach-E name. Maybe Ford will pull a Freestyle and rename that car the Mustang X? How about Mustang Cross? If you need me, I’ll be mulling over all the possible terrible branding solutions the Blue Oval could come up with for the next five years.