The Shelby GT500—an insanely powerful version of the Mustang pony car—bowed out when the new generation car launched for 2015. But now it has returned starting in 2019 as a 2020 model year, and it’s set to be the most powerful street-legal Ford ever with over 700 horsepower.
The Ford Mustang has been losing the horsepower wars handily in recent years, with cross-town rival Dodge offering two engines above 700 horsepower and 600 lb-ft of torque in its Challenger, and Chevrolet plopping a 650-horsepower, 650 lb-ft supercharged V8 into its Camaro ZL1.
The blue oval’s most muscular pony car offering, the track-oriented GT350R, meanwhile, has been making do with 526 horsepower and 429 lb-ft out of its naturally aspirated 5.2-liter V8. But now, there’s a new GT500, and let’s just get to the point: Ford’s teaser notes that their new fastback coupe makes over 700 horsepower.
A leaked photo on Instagram showed a supercharged version of the GT350's 5.2-liter V8 under the new Shelby GT500's hood, although a Ford representative would not confirm any engine details at this time beyond the fact that it’s a supercharged V8.
While we don’t have too many details yet, we are glad that Ford confirmed that such a burnout machine is heading to production in 2019. Here’s hoping that “over 700 horsepower” is teaser code for “over 707 horsepower,” if for no other reason than to kick off a wholly amusing modern muscle horsepower war with the Dodge Hellcat.