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Ford Is Looking To Take Over Where Dodge Left Off

Ford Is Looking To Take Over Where Dodge Left Off​

As Dodge Shifts Gears, Ford Doubles Down On V8 Power To Capture A Loyal Market...​


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In a move that could signal a shift in the muscle car landscape, Ford recently revealed its plans for the future Mustang lineup at a dealer meeting in Las Vegas. Among the new offerings, the most surprising was the announcement of a four-door Mustang coupe, tentatively named the “Mach 4.” This new model is expected to feature V8 power—a decision that seems to borrow a bit from Dodge’s playbook, especially as the muscle car segment undergoes significant changes.

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Ford Is Looking To Take Over Where Dodge Left Off

In a move that could signal a shift in the muscle car landscape, Ford recently revealed its plans for the future Mustang lineup at a dealer meeting in Las Vegas. Among the new offerings, the most surprising was the announcement of a four-door Mustang coupe, tentatively named the "Mach 4." This...
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Good for Ford! I am already considering a Mustang. Nobody wants an electric muscle car, and a V6 is not a muscle car!
 
Are you listening Stellantis?
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Fixed it.
People like Tim would've absolutely kept the V8s going if the new leaders weren't erratically rushing away from essentially funding Tesla.

Looks like Jimbo is genuinely serious about a Mustang sedan. Not only bodes well for them but will probably pressure Dodge into making a Sixpack H.O. sedan sooner. Certainly interesting times for both brands.
 
Dodge is dead .
Long live all-electric Stellantis ...NOT.
What a bunch of clowns.
They announce their going to be the first of the Big 3 to completely abandon internal combustion in 3 years or so. They announce they're phasing out all their ICE performance vehicles.
Then sales drop like a rock.
Now, they're in the investors meeting, Going "Duh, we don't know why people think they won't be able to get parts for their ICE cars and stopped buying them from us".
And of course they made all of these Commitments just as the EV market started to run out of early adopters.
PERFECT.
I have no sympathy for those fools.
 
CloversPlusCats said:
ll probably pressure Dodge into making a Sixpack H.O. sedan sooner.
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Stellantis is NOT Chrysler. They're committed to stupidity and thereby, Dodge is as well. I'd be surprised if they could get out of the way of a Zamboni, much less change the direction of their engineering.
You'll just have to wait for the EV version of the HO in 2031, assuming they're even still around and it will probably be made in China .
 
sarago said:
Good for Ford! I am already considering a Mustang. Nobody wants an electric muscle car, and a V6 is not a muscle car!
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Grand National wasn't a Muscle car... OK

Mustang is a ponycar, and where is the V6 muscle car in the plan at Dodge?
 
I like Mustangs, love the Bullitt, but stick with Dodge on account of the roominess and better day-to-day functionality. If the Mustang/Thunderbird/Falcon sedan is like a BMW 4 series grancoupe it won't work for me any more than the coupe Stang and I'll be sticking with Dodge. I'd like a RWD S.O. Charger 2 door but would settle for AWD if I have to.
 
I'd prefer if the four door not come with a V8. Not because Dodge no longer offers the Hemi but because I think the Mach-4 would do better with the Ecoboost powertrains than a V8. Let's think about this for a second, hear me out.
2.3L Ecoboost: 350hp/350tq
2.7L Ecoboost V6: 325hp/400tq
3.0L Ecoboost: 400hp-415tq (Explorer ST), 405/430-tq (Ranger Raptor), 418hp/440tq (Bronco Raptor)
3.0L Ecoboost hybrid: 494hp/630lb-ft torque (Lincoln Aviator GT)
3.5L Ecoboost H/O: 450/510tq (Ford F150 Raptor), 660hp/550tq (Ford GT Supercar) 430hp/570tq (F150 w/Powerboost hybrid variant)
Take any variant of those powertrains and put them in an rear-biased AWD four door pony car and you have a serious performance vehicle on your hands. Better balanced than having a heavy @$$ v8 under the hood and very tunable. In the Bronco raptor the 3.0L makes 440lb-ft of torque comparted to the 418lb-ft the Mustang GT 5.0L Dark horse makes and the 3.5L Ecoboost out-torques any naturally aspirated 5.0L or 5.2L Ford has put in a Factory production street legal vehicle and equals the horsepower of the 2023 Mustang GT 5.0L While the 5.0L Mustang sounds good, I think the Ecoboost powertrains would be better, especially with AWD. Now those numbers are stock numbers for the Ecoboost cars and they respond extremely well to modifications. Granted I've been wishing for years that Ford would have brought the Falcon up from Australia with the 4.0L Barra I-6 Turbo which is one of the reasons I'm super excited about the new Hurricane powertrain in the Charger but I'd much prefer the Ecoboost powertrains than the V8 powertrains in the 4-door mustang. I'd be completely cool with a 4-door mustang that has Dark Horse/MAch1/Shelby vibes with a twin turbo V6 (or I-6 Turbo) that is crazy tunable and well balanced for backroads and things like that, than another nose-heavy V8 powered muscle car.
 
Muscle car is any high horsepower vehicle that is light compared to full sized sedans of the time, it just happens that at their birth V8 was the solution for hp, at the time. Lots of awesome engines in other configuration around the world have offered Muscle, heck Dodge has offered Muscle cars and trucks with V10s. Hell some of the true Legacy and some of the most valuable cars in the world world were Straight 8s.
 
Anybody who wants a V8 Charger or Challenger can pick one up today at your local CDJR dealer. They’re overflowing with unsold 2022 and 2023 inventory.

The market for gas guzzlers is rapidly shrinking; Ford is making a Mustang sedan because the market is now too small to support more than one low-volume platform across all form factors. The Boomers demanding obsolete pushrod V8s are in the process of buying their last ever car, so it’s a further limited opportunity.

A base electric Dodge will out accelerate and outrun the obsolete gas guzzlers; people wanting real performance will go for the actual performance numbers rather than pining for obsolete tech like pushrod V8s.
 
sarago said:
Good for Ford! I am already considering a Mustang. Nobody wants an electric muscle car, and a V6 is not a muscle car!
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The 3.0 "hurricane" isn't a V6, it's an I6, which is a better design by far than a stupid V6.... But yes, people want the V8 so what right does Dodge have to dictate to the consumer when it is their role to simply provide what the consumer wants.
 
MotorMaven said:
Anybody who wants a V8 Charger or Challenger can pick one up today at your local CDJR dealer. They’re overflowing with unsold 2022 and 2023 inventory.

The market for gas guzzlers is rapidly shrinking; Ford is making a Mustang sedan because the market is now too small to support more than one low-volume platform across all form factors. The Boomers demanding obsolete pushrod V8s are in the process of buying their last ever car, so it’s a further limited opportunity.

A base electric Dodge will out accelerate and outrun the obsolete gas guzzlers; people wanting real performance will go for the actual performance numbers rather than pining for obsolete tech like pushrod V8s.
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"Obsolete" tech? No, the V8 is very relevant since it can refuel in minutes, can go all day long and the entire vehicle can last several decades if looked after. These performance EV's aren't desired or wanted by anyone with a brain. They're too expensive, too inconvenient and have a maximum lifespan of 10.years which is economically and environmentally disgraceful.

Then there's the driving experience. For many enthusiasts this is everything, and you just cannot get that experience from something that sounds like a blender and lacks soul.

EV's including hybrids were developed over a century ago and they became "obsolete" because of the pros of the fuel burning motor vehicle.
 
Volvo Tony said:
EV's including hybrids were developed over a century ago and they became "obsolete" because of the pros of the fuel burning motor vehicle.
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So how long have these petrol burning, IC engine powered cars been around? The Hemi powered Chrysler 300 was introduced twenty years ago. C&D tested one and they were highly impressed. Today, a Toyota Crown with the Hybrid Max powertrain matches the performance of that Hemi powered Chrysler sedan.
 
patfromigh said:
So how long have these petrol burning, IC engine powered cars been around? The Hemi powered Chrysler 300 was introduced twenty years ago. C&D tested one and they were highly impressed. Today, a Toyota Crown with the Hybrid Max powertrain matches the performance of that Hemi powered Chrysler sedan.
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Static development fallacy. Both are continued to be developed but the room for improvement in one is severally limited by its maturity,
 
I feel like it might be a waste but Stellantis could do something slick and bring out a 5.2L (318ci) DOHC V8 and drop that under the hood of the New Charger and everything else on the STLA Large/STLA Frame platform. The Idea might be kind of a waste as Dodge now has the High output hurricane, but then again, it might not. Let's say for instance, the Hurricane HO powertrains get sourced to vehicle like jeeps, Chryslers and some of the Ram pickup trucks and they sell really well. This opens up room for Stellantis to have a V8 powertrain in the mix with small displacement, but with decent horsepower. Enter in, the 5.2L DOHC "Magnum" V8 engine. it's an engine that competes in size with both Ford and GM and could have a ton of power, especially as a hybrid. With a 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8 firing order, a factory cold air intake, SRT tuned mid length header style exhaust manifolds and a decent exhaust system let's say the car can manage 520hp and maybe 450lb-ft of torque. Put a hybrid 8-speed Gen-4 transmission behind it and now your running closer to the 600hp mark with over 500lb-ft of torque, plus decent MPGe. AWD, Brembos and some Direct Connection upgrades and now we're cooking. Granted it will probably never happen but it's a thought.
 
And now that inventory is drying up for Dodge/Chevy it looks like Ford is starting to really cash in. Q2 2024 Mustang sales were up almost 28%.

Stellantis couldn't successfully operate a lemonade stand on a street corner, much less an auto company.
 
IMHO, the decision to bring back or continue to offer the V8 lies on how the Ram 1500 sales come out to be after a couple of years after it get to the full production capacity, if it happens.
The majority of sales of F150 comes from the lower trims which are V8 powered. GM twins are having a problem selling their 4cylinder trims.
Yes, GM and Ford were better prepared with their offerings to offset the V8, but let’s hope Dodge, Jeep and Ram can do the same with the various EV options.
 
Well that's not looking good for them either, as Ram sales for the first six months of 2024 were down nearly 20%. The only truck doing marginally worse is the Nissan Titan.

This is like solving a Rubik's Cube that has only one color, and Stellantis just doesn't know how to figure it out. Update your trucks every 3-5 years, and offer a V8 engine. That's all you've got to do to sell product as fast as you can make it. I don't think they care.
 
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